As you explore Tasmania’s national parks you will find signs, guidebooks and art installations offering a wealth of information on Tasmania. Many of these have been written and designed by Fiona Rice to connect people to place. Some of her major projects include The Three Capes Track, Overland Track, The Curiosity Room at Mt Field, and the Needwonnee Walk — an Aboriginal heritage experience at Melaleuca. We asked Fiona about her favourite Tasmanian places and stories.
1. What’s your favourite Tasmanian story?
The young beautiful French woman named ’Nicole’, who supposedly summited Frenchmans Cap. You’ll have to walk to Tahune Hut and read the little book “Whose bed are you sleeping in?” to find out more. It’s my favourite story because this secret lay hidden for 80 years, but also because I’ve now met Nicole’s family, and my life is the richer for it. That’s one of the best parts of my work — the people I meet along the way.
2. What Tasmanian place fascinates you most?
The North West Coast. An incredibly powerful, magnificently wild and beautiful landscape. The locals are pretty wild and passionate too. The enormous Aboriginal middens bring everything into perspective. It’s a landscape that clears your head and fills your heart.
3. You worked alongside members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community to create the Needwonnee Walk at Melaleuca in Southwest Tasmania. What was that experience like for you?
The story of the Needwonnee people was an unbearably sad story to tell, but the project was richly rewarding for everyone involved. It was a privilege to witness the community centre themselves in the space, recall their Old People, and recreate a traditional campsite in the actual place where we knew there had been one, using materials they collected from the forest. This was a first in Tasmania. And because they’re ephemeral installations they rely on the ongoing participation of community members to maintain them, or add fresh installations, which means the storytelling changes according to who contributes. The Needwonnee Walk will always bring life.
4. Where do you start with your storytelling?
Spending time in the place, or if it’s a people story, getting to know the people. I then research, which includes consulting my good collection of experts in a variety of fields built up over the past 23 years. Usually, I wait till I can ‘see’ the end before I start writing or designing. Typically, my best ideas usually come to me inconveniently in the middle of the night, or when I’m in the shower.
5. What do you want people to feel and walk away with after reading/experiencing your work?
I’d like to mark people’s memory in some way — connect them to a place more strongly — put them in someone else’s shoes — realise we’re all in this (life) together. If that happens, and people leave with more understanding, more empathy, and more passion, I’ve succeeded — and the planet might move one step closer to being safer.
