melissadrummond

Kaarakin Black Cockatoo Fundraiser Auction

Kaarakin: The Black Cockatoo Rehabilitation Centre is holding an online auction starting from tomorrow, October 21st, and running until October 31st, to raise much-needed funds for their cockatoo rehabilitation program, which also includes habitat restoration and community education.

As part of the auction, I’ve donated signed, matted prints of these images, with the printing and mat board generously donated by Goldfields Image Works. The first is a photo of Carnaby’s Black Cockatoos, captured at Gibson in the south-east of Western Australia, and the second image is a diptych of Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, photographed at the base of the Darling Range of Perth at Jane Brook.

There’s a lot of other goodies to be auctioned, including a didgeridoo donated and signed by Xavier Rudd, John Lennon/Yoko Ono memorabilia, as well as memorabilia packs donated and signed by The Cat Empire, John Butler, and Dan Sultan.

Please help to save our iconic, and endangered, black cockatoos.

Tags: auction, baudins, black cockatoo, carnabys, cockie, cockies, cocky, community, dan sultan, destruction, drummond, education, endangered, fundraiser, habitat loss, john butler, kaarakin, melissa drummond, nikon, red-tailed, rehabilitation, restoration, southern hemisphere, the cat empire, western australia, wheatbelt, xavier rudd, yoko ono

Documentary | Birds Of Tokyo

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, September 2012

Tags: Adam Spark, Adam Weston, australia, Birds Of Tokyo, documentary, drummond, Glenn Sarangapany, Ian Berney, ian kenny, kalgoorlie, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, KBRC, melissa drummond, music, nikon, outback, red dirt, red dirt rock concert, rock, southern hemisphere, western australia

Documentary | British India

Kalgoorlie-Boulder, September 2012

Tags: british india, British India Band, concert, Declan Melia, documentary, drummond, kalgoorlie, Kalgoorlie-Boulder, KBRC, Matt O'Gorman, melissa drummond, music, Nic Wilson, nikon, red dirt rock concert, rock, western australia, Will Drummond

This afternoon…

…we wandered around abandoned chook sheds, across paddocks full of prickles that were once market gardens, and fossicked in a dump that held secrets in its old couches and tossed suitcases, photographing a family who descended from the first Italian growers in the area. It was a pleasure to share in the sentiment.

Salmon Gum, Gindalbie

Dead Salmon Gum, taken at Gindalbie, NE of Kalgoorlie.

Polaroid Colorpack II Land Camera / Fuji FP100C pack film

Tags: analogue, bushfire, fuji FP100C, gindalbie, pack film, Polaroid, salmon gum

Documentary | It was more fun when it was illegal.

Some images from a recent two-up game on the outskirts of Kalgoorlie.

The title of this post – It was more fun when it was illegal – is a quote from the man in the gallery who is wearing a fur hat (I didn’t get his name unfortunately). We hat a chat for a while, and he happily regaled me with tales of bush two-up, when the lookout would run in yelling “COPPERS!” and they’d all bolt off into the surrounding bush. No women were allowed, or cameras, he said, and was quick to reassure me it was ok to take photos these days. He had a laugh when he was remembering how a local judge was busted one time.

The ring was full of characters and I reckon they’d all have a story or two to tell.

Two-up | Kalgoorlie, WA

Two-up | Kalgoorlie, WA

Two-up | Kalgoorlie, WA

Turn your face to the sun

…..and the shadows fall behind you.

Camera: Holga CFN toy camera

Film: Fuji Reala 120 roll film

Say hi on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaDrummondPhotography

Tags: analogue, australia, drummond, film, fuji, holga, lo-fi, lomography, melissa drummond, quairading, southern hemisphere, toy camera, western australia, wheatbelt

From the Desert to the Sea

April 2012

From Kalgoorlie to Perth, the Great Eastern Highway is a 600 kilometre flat track of pockmarked bitumen, littered either side with empty bottles and toilet paper.

The Goldfields Pipeline pipes water from Mundaring Weir on the edge of Perth, through the dusty wheatbelt, to Mt Charlotte in Kalgoorlie.

Grain cells and wheat bins populate the rail line that runs parallel to the highway. The grain is loaded on to trains bound for the grain receival point in Kwinana.

Passenger rail siding in the highway town of Kellerberrin.

Late afternoon travel west along the Great Eastern Highway is always a battle with the blinding sun in full view.

Grain cells and wheat bins populate the rail line that runs parallel to the highway. The grain is loaded on to trains bound for the grain receival point in Kwinana.

Tammin Hotel, which is no longer open.

Late-afternoon sun shines off the railway tracks that criss-cross the road.

Bob-tail, Stumpy-tail, Sleepy Lizard, Blue Tongue – it seems that every state of Australia has a different name for the Shingleback.

Tier 3 rail line in Quairading, used to transport grain to port before the Barnett Liberal Government shut it down, leading to an increase in trucks on the narrow country roads.

An empty butcher shop stands on the corner of Quairading’s main street. Quairading is a small wheatbelt town, about 160 kilometres east of Perth.

The first glimpse of Perth’s CBD as you come over Greenmount.

World War II hero and avid scuba diver Jack Sue’s dive shop in Midland.

Crossing the Swan River at Guildford.

The tree-lined streets of Guildford.

Red-tailed black cockatoos drift above, a common, and welcome, sight from Southern Cross to Perth.

The iconic Indiana Tea House at Cottesloe Beach, on the edge of the Indian Ocean.

An old sign below the Indiana Tea House.

A Belgian-owned Bocimar dry-bulk carrier heads out to sea.

Early April, and the sea off Perth is warm due to the Leeuwin Current that sweeps along the west coast, to the Great Australian Bight.

An open swimmer…

Early April, and the sea off Perth is warm due to the Leeuwin Current that sweeps along the west coast, to the Great Australian Bight.

Sunlight glistens off the waters of the Indian Ocean.

The Westpac chopper patrols the beaches of Perth looking for sharks. Cottesloe is now one of the beaches where drum lines have been placed – around one kilometre offshore – in the State Government’s absurd attempt to decrease shark attacks.

Stand-up paddle boarder

Swimmers contemplate a leap off the Cottesloe groyne.

Ice cream by the beach – a welcome reward after a long drive from the desert.

(Updated April 2014)

Tags: australia, coastal plain, cottesloe, cottesloe beach, desert, drummond, highway, indian ocean, indiana tea rooms, kalgoorlie, melissa drummond, nikon, outback, perth, sand, sandplain, southern hemisphere, swan river, swimming, western australia

After the bushfire, Gindalbie – Box Brownie & 35mm film

I recently loaded an old Box Brownie 2A camera (circa 1924) with some 35mm film, just for shits and giggles, and here’s one of the photos….

Tags: analogue, australia, box brownie, bushfire, drummond, film, gindalbie, kalgoorlie, melissa drummond, outback, panorama, vintage, western australia

Photo Essay | Gindalbie Woolshed

Gindalbie Woolshed is a disused shearing shed and quarters located sixty-six kilometres north-east of Kalgoorlie, in the Western Australian outback. Once a thriving sheep station, drought and wild dogs have taken their toll on sheep numbers. The local industry has been decimated, and sheep farming is no longer a viable option for station owners Steve and Joanne Tonkin, who now run cattle and harvest sandalwood to make a living.

Around the yard an old gambrel meat hook swings from a nearby sheoak, a rusted axe leans against a shed and saltbush grows through the springs of a tossed-out camp bed. The woolshed stands seemingly untouched since the shearing stopped, save for the dust and cobwebs, and holes in the corrugated tin where sunlight filters in.

(click on the first image for a slideshow view)