Side Bedroom at Woolla, two single beds fill the room, pushed against opposite walls with a timber dresser wedged.

01 WoollaDeua River Valley2021 - 2022

ISO 1002.0 secf/8.070mm

Series · 20 prints

Woolla

Photographed 2021 - 2022
Frames 20
Camera NIKON D850
Location NSW, Australia · New South Wales, Australia
Status Kept, not restored; ongoing maintenance
Years 1927 to 1990
Specs Two hand-split slab huts under one large tree · Davis family continuous ownership 1910 to 2004 · Survived 2019-2020 Black Summer bushfires
01 ABOUT THIS SERIES

Series story

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

Woolla is a property on the Deua River near Braidwood in southern New South Wales. The slab huts under a single large tree were built and inhabited by the Davis family across four generations from 1910 to 1990. The family held freehold title to the property continuously through 2004.

The original freehold was taken up in 1910 by Helena "Nellie" Davis. Her son Everid, her daughter Neta, and her younger children Vern (born 1928) and Myrtle (born 1930) lived between the two huts: kitchen in the first, three sleeping rooms in the second. Nellie died in 1977. Neta died at Woolla in 1990. Vern moved into the Braidwood nursing home that year with Parkinson's and died at Braidwood Hospital in 2004. The current owners keep Woolla intact rather than restoring it. The walls of the huts are papered over hand-split slabs, newsprint behind the wallpaper, and Vern's calendars from local businesses still hang on the wall: Goulburn 1972, Braidwood 1983, Batemans Bay 1990.

Lost Collective Journal (Why the calendars stay where they are)

02 TIMELINE

Chronology

1910
1928
1952
1977
1990
2004
2008
2020
03 PRINTS

Prints in this series

Hand-signed and numbered, printed from the original RAW file. Open editions in the two smallest sizes; limited editions of 100, 50 and 25 in the three larger, never reissued once they sell through.

A dust-covered aluminium saucepan and domed lid on a worn wooden surface inside a slab hut at Woolla in the Deua River Valley, with yellowed newspaper lining the timber walls behind.
Saucepan and Lid
An open portable record player with a dusty ribbed metal turntable and worn fabric case, photographed in the Deua River Valley.
Portable Record Player
An old enamel refrigerator with a rusted top edge and chrome latch stands against patterned wallpaper at Woolla in the Deua River Valley, a handsaw and cardboard boxes on the floor beside it.
Old Refrigerator
A weathered timber and corrugated iron farmhouse at Woolla, seen behind a large tree in autumn colour, with rusting roof sheets, a tall metal chimney flue, and galvanised tanks, forested hills in the background.
Old Farmhouse
A dust-covered glass ink bottle and white tablet jar on a grimy timber shelf at Woolla, with a green and pink comb resting beside them.
Ink and Comb
A weathered timber slab hut with a corrugated metal gable roof and a covered porch at Woolla, near Braidwood, with a woven basket, tin box and low stool at the entrance.
Timber Slab Hut
Two weathered timber sheds with corrugated iron roofs beneath a bare-limbed tree at Woolla, Deua River Valley, with a windowed lean-to and two corrugated water tanks to the right.
Timber Farm Sheds
The weathered timber slab hut and covered front verandah at Woolla, with a galvanised corrugated water tank and steel drum standing at the gable end on mown grass among trees near Braidwood.
Slab Hut Verandah
Peeling patterned wallpaper inside a slab hut at Woolla, revealing yellowed newsprint with livestock sale advertising and the partial name Frank Ganz, with a window and damaged plaster visible to the right.
Peeling Wallpaper
A metal lantern with its reflector open sits on a recessed shelf set into torn floral wallpaper at Woolla, with small jars, a lidded container, a plastic bag, and a matchbox arranged below it.
Lantern and Shelf
Grace Bros. hatboxes stacked beside a green canvas suitcase with metal latches and a leather handle, photographed at Moruya.
Grace Bros Hatboxes
Side Bedroom at Woolla, two single beds fill the room, pushed against opposite walls with a timber dresser wedged.
Side Bedroom
Side Bedroom Window at Woolla, a single iron-frame bed sits against the far wall, its faded orange mattress still bearing.
Side Bedroom Window
Rear Room at Woolla, a narrow room built from rough-sawn timber and lined with deteriorating plaster.
Rear Room
Rear Bedroom at Woolla, a single bed sits against the back wall, its striped mattress sagging under a collapsed sheet.
Rear Bedroom
Main Bedroom at Woolla, a timber-framed single bed sits against patterned wallpaper, its woven bedspread still spread flat.
Main Bedroom
Main Bedroom Cross View at Woolla, a single bed sits against the far wall, its striped coverlet still stretched flat.
Main Bedroom Cross View
Kitchen at Woolla, a low ceiling of corrugated iron and rough-hewn beams presses down over wide timber floorboards.
Kitchen
Back Room Entry at Woolla, corrugated iron roofing sits low over rough-hewn timber walls lined with hessian.
Back Room Entry
Back Door at Woolla, inside a slab timber cabin at Woolla, a four-panel door hangs open on rusted hinges.
Back Door
04 ABOUT THE PRINTS

How they’re made

Made to order by Brett in Sydney, from the original RAW file. Each print is hand-signed and numbered before it ships.

Paper

Ilford Galerie cotton rag, 310 gsm. Acrylic on metallic gloss, 260 gsm.

Editions

Open in XS and S. Limited in M (100), L (50), XL (25). From $100.

Print tiers →

Lead time

Unframed: 5 to 10 business days. Framed and acrylic: 10 to 20.

05 FIELD NOTE

From the field

Read all field notes
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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