[musical introduction] [image of the Court crest] [image of the Gray Hawk, Master Furniture Maker’s logo ]
[images of rivers and streams of Murray Darling Basin] The River Red Gum or Karra in the language of the Kauna people of the Adelaide Plains is the most common tree of the rivers and streams of the Murray Darling Basin. [aerial photograph of the Murray Darling Basin] Indigenous Australians used the tree to make canoes, weapons and shelters. Some of the trees had great spiritual significance. The early settlers used the River Red Gum to build wharves, railways and houses. [images of River Red Gum plantation] While its numbers have declined the River Red Gum is now being planted as a means of regenerating degraded land in the Murray Darling Basin.
[image of Gray Hawk, Master Furniture Maker’s workshop] [image of Gray Hawk cutting and preparing timbers] [image of number one courtroom, Commonwealth Law Courts building, Adelaide] At the request of the Federal Court the Commonwealth commissioned Gray Hawk to use River Red Gum to create the bench, bar table and panelling in the principal courtroom of the new Commonwealth Law Courts in Adelaide. [image of exterior of Commonwealth Law Courts, Adelaide]
[image of Gray Hawk in his workshop] [image of panels in judge’s bench, number one courtroom, Commonwealth Law Court, Adelaide] [image of number one courtroom, Commonwealth Law Courts, Adelaide] This DVD shows how an artist and master craftsman in timber took an ancient tree and transformed it into inspiring furniture for one of Australia’s important public spaces.
[Image of Gray Hawk, Master Furniture Maker]
Gray Hawk – [image of Gray Hawk with a panel of crafted timber] ‘There’s an incredible amount of work going into harvesting big trees. [image of fallen River Red Gum] [images of River Red Gum being sawn] Now what I have to point out is that what I’m looking for are dead trees and preferably trees that are lying on the ground, that’s mainly my source of Red Gum and there’s obvious ecological reasons that that’s the direction that I try and go in and it’s pretty much the story of the trees that we used in this job.’ [image of Gray Hawk selecting timbers]
Gray Hawk – [image of Gray Hawk explaining selection of timber] ‘As you can see here we’ve got a thin cross-section that’s been radially cut and from the centre of the tree where I am, going to the outside barkage and we’ve got this amazing, on just the odd ancient tree we get this really spiky edge, its almost like sharks’ teeth and you can see in this sample that I’ve got here you can see very similar but we’ve still got the bark on the outside it’s sort of dried and keyed onto those teeth. We could peel that off if we drive a wedge in there. [image of Gray Hawk showing comparison panel with bark on and termite damage] Here you can see on this sample as well that the termites have eaten this far out on this particular piece so they haven’t left us a lot.
Gray Hawk – [images of timber being crafted] [image of Gray Hawk with crafted panel] ‘When you start working with a material like this, more and more you fall in love with it. Every job of course is different but it always has its rewards, every tree is different and it has different properties to work with and sometimes I can spend a couple of weeks making up a tabletop [image of Gray Haw crafting timber] but it’s not until I get to that final sand of four hundred that all of a sudden you can see twice, or three times, as much depth into it and it just starts radiating this visual beauty and then you throw on a few coats of lacquer and you just go “Wow what a gift!”.’
[image of craftsman fitting panels] [image of Gray Hawk with panel explaining timber cut] ‘Well traditionally us cabinetmakers would cut a straight line down here, because mainly we work in straight lines, we cut a straight line down here and then we’d butt those two together and we’d have a nice mirror image along a central mirror line [image of two mirror image timber panels] and we call it a book match traditionally. But when I cut this tree I was looking at it and I’m going “How beautiful if this?”. [image of sawn River Red Gum] If we could somehow incorporate this jagged toothy edge of this tree into these pieces [image of jagged edges of timber panels] it would be an exceptional opportunity to really tell the story of these trees.’
[image of Court crest above bench panning out to image of court] Gray Hawk – ‘This has been a wonderful opportunity for us to put together a body of work that is really outstanding in what it represents and what it exemplifies in a very public and important space. [image of cleaner wiping top of bench showing richness of timber] [image of riverbed with River Red Gum] For me it represents part of our natural culture and one that’s rapidly disappearing. [images of Australian landscape] One that needs more respect and consideration particularly when we socially are becoming more aware of the environmental degradation that we’ve created and are hoping to take more responsible action towards maintaining and re-establishing this wonderful renewable resource.’
[image of timber panel, panning out to court bench and Gray Hawk standing in front of panel overlaid with the words “November 2005 – Eve of first hearing in Court 1] Gray Hawk – ‘I think it’s far exceeded our expectations. I think what we were looking at before was two dimensional plans [image of plans] [3 dimensional image of court bench showing curves] that we developed into these three dimensional curved work platforms and the levels add to the dynamics of it but really what’s made the difference and where it’s evolved as we’ve gone along is the timbers that we’ve been able to procure [image of extent of timber panelling] and the way that we’ve utilised them as you can see in the panelling and even in the hob tops [image of bench timber top and curved section] we’ve got this mirror image working in the curves of the blonde sap wood included in the joint of the boards so really it’s far exceeded in many respects our expectations and a lot of that has hinged on our ability to work with the materials that came to hand at the time. [image panning around court one, Commonwealth Law Courts, Adelaide]
[image of first Full Court hearing in number one court, Commonwealth Law Courts, Adelaide overlaid with the words “Chief Justice Michael Black AC, Federal Court of Australia, November 2005”]
Chief Justice – ‘We sit here today as a Full Court of nine judges to mark the occasion of the first hearing in the principal courtroom of the new Commonwealth Law Courts here in Adelaide. [image of public gallery] One of the great ideas that inspired this building was that it should have as part of its very essence outstanding works of public art and artistic craftsmanship. [images of artwork and sculptures in Commonwealth Law Court building, Adelaide] I therefore now wish to place on pubic record our appreciation of the work of the artists. It should surely be an essential part of our public life that our creative people should on an occasion such as this receive the recognition that is their due. [images of timber panels in courtroom and images of empty courtroom] The River Red Gum plays a very important part in the interior architecture of this building and particularly in this courtroom [images of Gray Hawk, Master Craftsman at work and in the court discussing his work with a tradesman] where Mr Gray Hawk, a master craftsman and artist in timber created the furniture and panelling that you see in this courtroom today.’
[Closing image of number one courtroom, Commonwealth Law Courts, Adelaide overlaid with the words ‘Produced by the Federal Court of Australia, Public Information Unit, Melbourne, Australia, www.fedcourt.gov.au]
