A Wallum coastal ecosystem under threat from urbanisation in Brunswick Heads will feature in a major contemporary art exhibition at the National Trust, S.H. Ervin Gallery, at The Rocks in Sydney.
Organisers say ‘Holding Ground, opening 7 March and running until 3 May 2026, brings together leading Australian artists to explore themes of land, ecology and responsibility. Curated by Gavin Wilson, among the exhibition’s highlights are ten large-scale photographic works documenting ‘Wallum’ Brunswick Heads’.
‘Since September 2023, the Byron Shire community in Northern NSW, on Bundjalung Country, has been at the heart of a powerful grassroots movement to protect the endangered Wallum ecosystem from destruction by a proposed 124-lot housing development. After months of legal proceedings and the presentation of significant expert evidence, the case has reached its final stage, with a decision expected from the Federal Court in March 2026.
‘One of the exhibition’s hero works by Mac Maderski is Grandmother Tree, a commanding portrait of a 300 plus year old Scribbly Gum.
‘The ancient tree, marked for bulldozing if the development proceeds, stands as a living witness to centuries of life. Its inclusion in Holding Ground transforms it into both artwork and testimony, a pre-colonial wonder.
‘Wallum Brunswick Heads supports more than 100 threatened and vulnerable species. Particularly poignant is another Maderski photograph, of a juvenile South-Eastern Glossy Black Cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami lathami) that arrived at Wallum after the 2023 bush fires, singed but surviving. Now the emblem of Save Wallum, this vulnerable species is listed under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 and faces ongoing habitat threat.
‘Featuring work by prominent Australian artists including Imants Tillers and Janet Laurence, Holding Ground brings a local conservation issue into a national cultural spotlight.
‘The exhibition asks a timely question: what is truly at stake in Australia’s remaining coastal ecosystems and what does it mean to hold ground in the face of accelerating biodiversity loss?’
For more info visit https://www.shervingallery.com.au/event/holding-ground/
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