A forgotten picture: Race, photographs and Cathy Freeman at the Northcote Koori Mural

Abstract

A dramatic photograph, published in 1994, depicted Australian athlete Cathy Freeman running at Northcote’s Koori Mural in inner-north Melbourne, beneath scenes of Aboriginal elders in chains in the late nineteenth century. Two months later, she famously posed for photographs carrying the Aboriginal flag in a victory lap following her win in the 400 metres at the Commonwealth Games. While the flag photographs remain an iconic image of sport and race in Australia, the Northcote photograph is forgotten. This article explores the history of the Northcote photograph—its background, the image itself, and the aftermath of publication. We analyse the discursive contexts of exposure and elision: unlike the flag pictures, which spoke to the present and to a recognised and saleable discourse (national pride), the Northcote mural image pointed to a more difficult and less palatable discursive relationship with the past (racism, abuse and disenfranchisement).