Hidden Heritage: Ronald Bull's 1962 Pentridge mural

Abstract

Out of sight, but not out of mind. Concealed within the historical precinct of H. M. Prison Pentridge in Melbourne is an extraordinary mural painted in 1962 by the young Kurnai artist Ronald Bull. Full of great energy and power Bull's mural depicts a classic camp scene with three stylised warriors grouped around a central fire. It is an image of painted space where the background of rich red ochre almost dissolves the grim prison wall into the farreaching light of a Central Desert landscape. As the single largest Indigenous artwork produced in south-eastern Australia during the assimilation era the mural is of great significance in the history of Aboriginal Victoria. The mural is also testimony to the place of prison in the colonial experience of Aboriginal people and its importance as a site of cultural production.