‘At The Union’ provides a glimpse into the vibrant and eclectic history of the Union Theatre site, as well as the personalities, connections and performances that have materialised here.

Taking Joe and Lyn Chambers’ well-known local history monograph ‘It’s On At The Union’ (which was illustrated by the artists’ grandmother Nell Quilford) as its starting provocation, ‘At The Union’ offers a series of historically informed mixed-media bricolages.

Layered amalgamations weave together fragments and enhanced versions of archival material, newspaper clippings, oral history clips, photography, and political and promotional propaganda related to the Union Theatre.

The happenings of this place – which span the eccentric, the overlooked, the endearingly parochial through to nationally significant acts of political activism – offer a richly diverse tapestry that demonstrates the site’s pivotal role as a cornerstone of cultural and political life in the Bass Coast district.

Rees Quilford is a fifth-generation settler of Welsh-Irish descent who was born to, and lives on, the unceded lands of the Bunurong/Boonwurrung. He is a father, a partner, a writer, and a maker whose work focuses on digital heritage and mixed media storytelling. His project based PhD explored place-based storytelling practices using Bass Coast archives as its case study.

Acknowledgements:

Special thanks to the dedicated volunteers at the Wonthaggi and District Historical Society as well as to the helpful staff at the State Library of Victoria and the University of Melbourne Archives who generously assisted facilitating research used in this exhibition.

Design filters and AI tools have been utilised to enhance the readability and modify the layout of the archival fragments used in the exhibition. In some cases this has resulted in slight variations from the original source material. A complete list of archival source material is available to download here:
👉 https://bccv.net/rees-quilford-works-cited

Image: Rees Quilford