Toni Robertson's Tea and Yellowcake poster 1977
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| Toni Robertson, Tea and Yellowcake, screenprint, Earthworks Poster Collective, 1977. |
In 1977 Sydney artist Toni Robertson - at the time a member of the Earthworks Poster Collective working out of the Tin Sheds at the University of Sydney - produced a silkscreen poster with an anti-nuclear theme. The work was cleverly based around the famous Mad Hatter's Tea Party image from Lewis Carroll's 1865 fantasy fictional Alice in Wonderland. The Robertson poster was entitled Tea and Yellowcake - they will do anything we let them get away with. It is a classic of the era and typical of the richness and variety of posters coming out of the Earthworks Poster Collective during the 1970s. Addressing contemporary political and social justice issues, Robertson and others applied silkscreen printing techniques to street posters used to advertise and promote events such as rallies, dances, protests and community support services, alongside commentary on contemporary social and political issues. Vibrant colours, intense graphics and artistic flair is typical of an Earthworks posters from this time, with the work of Toni Robertson no exception.
Tea and Yellowcake features caricatures of a group of senior Australian federal politicians, including the Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, sitting around a table discussing the proposed expansion of the local nuclear fuel support industry, whilst a rather disconsolate Alice - representing Robertson and her like-minded friends - looks on dejectedly. A nuclear cloud rises from the funnel of the tea pot on the table, and a miniature nuclear reactor sits on a plate in front of the Mad Hatter. The 'In this style 10/6' label on the side of his top hat in the original 1860s engraving is replaced by the words 'Elite model, lead lined, $8,000'. Alice wears a dress with a nuclear sign on the front, typical of the anti-nuclear t-shirts of the day. A novel feature of the poster print is the use of iridescent, pale yellow ink which fluoresces under ultraviolet light and gives off a radioactive-like glow throughout the image.
Tea and Yellowcake features caricatures of a group of senior Australian federal politicians, including the Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, sitting around a table discussing the proposed expansion of the local nuclear fuel support industry, whilst a rather disconsolate Alice - representing Robertson and her like-minded friends - looks on dejectedly. A nuclear cloud rises from the funnel of the tea pot on the table, and a miniature nuclear reactor sits on a plate in front of the Mad Hatter. The 'In this style 10/6' label on the side of his top hat in the original 1860s engraving is replaced by the words 'Elite model, lead lined, $8,000'. Alice wears a dress with a nuclear sign on the front, typical of the anti-nuclear t-shirts of the day. A novel feature of the poster print is the use of iridescent, pale yellow ink which fluoresces under ultraviolet light and gives off a radioactive-like glow throughout the image.
John Tenniel's classic drawings for the original 1865 Macmillan London edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland were produced during 1864, with the book published at the end of the following year. A copy of Tenniel's pencil sketch of the Mad Hatter's Tea Party survives in the collection of the Newberry Library, Chicago. The subsequent engraved version was almost identical to the preliminary ink sketch, and was used by Robertson as the basis for the 1977 silk screened poster.
John Tenniel, Mad Hatter's Tea Party, engraving, in Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Macmillan, 1865.
A coloured version of the engraving was published in 1890, with the involvement of Tenniel, and in that work the original, very young Alice is replaced by a slightly older-looking girl. All other elements are the same, though the coloured print contains a greater level of finish and detail due, in part, to the application of colouring.
John Tenniel, Mad Hatter's Tea Party, engraving, in Lewis Carroll, The Nursery Alice, Macmillan, 1890.
The Alice in the original Tenniel engraving and Toni Robertson's poster are identical, with only the faces of the three Wonderland characters altered. The Mad Hatter at the far right of the original view has now received the oft-caricatured face of
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser; the Doormouse has become Phillip
Lynch, Treasurer and Minister for Finance; and the March Hare is the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the Country Party, Doug Anthony.
The issues raised in the poster centred around the 23 August 1977 announcement by Malcolm Fraser's Liberal-Country Party Coalition government that the mining and export of Australian uranium would be permitted, though under strict guidelines. The government policy change from a prior ban would, somewhat controversially, allow mining in the Jabiru region on the western edge of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Aboriginal land would be mined in a venture whereby the government profited directly as a result of its 42% stake in the company operating the project.
There was a groundswell of public opposition to the announcement, following on widespread discussion amongst the Australian community during the lead up to the decision. It was inflamed by the French nuclear testing program in the Pacific during 1972-3, at which time the Labor Party was in government under the visionary Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Dismissal by the Governor General John Kerr in 1975 saw the end of Whitlam and a return to power of a conservative government led by Fraser. Outrage and opposition to the dismissal was widespread and spilled over into other areas of government policy and decision making. By the beginning of 1977 Australia was witnessing the biggest mass movement since the time of the Vietnam Moratorium marches of 1970-1, with anti-nuclear demonstrations across the country. Despite this, uranium mining and export proceeded and Fraser went on to win a second term in office at the election of December 1977. The anti-nuclear campaign nevertheless continued, seeking to limit expansion of the policies put in place by the then federal government. A number of posters coming out of the Tin Sheds addressed this issue, with Jan McKay's Anti-Uranium Dance of 1978 typical. The political nature of the poster is the primary element, with the bands performing - Kamikaze Kids and Mental as Anything - almost an afterthought.
Opponents to the nuclear industry at the time of Toni Robertson's Tea and Yellowcake poster pointed to the fear of Australian uranium being used for the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the growing concern over the safety of nuclear reactors. They also raised questions in regards to responsibility for disposal of nuclear waste and the possibility of environmental damage from mining operations in localities such as Kakadu National Park. All of these concerns were well-founded and many of the issues facing the nuclear industry in 1977 remain unaddressed to this day. The productions of posters such as Tea and Yellowcake were part of this protest against government policy, and artists involved with the Earthworks Poster Collective were especially active in this area between 1976-8. For example, Toni Robertson produced a number of anti-nuclear posters, with perhaps her most famous being the 1982 Royal Nuclear Show series of 6 silkscreened prints based on photographs taken at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
According to the Design & Art Australia Online website, Toni Robertson worked as an artist and print maker from 1977 through until 1988. She subsequently gave up her art due to chemical poisoning received whilst working at the Tin Sheds and in connection with the toxic silk screening process. From 2002 she was professor and co-director of the Interaction Design and Human Practice Laboratory at the University of Technology Sydney, specialising in human-computer interaction.
Girls at the Tin Sheds 2015
In March 2015 an exhibition of feminist posters created by women at the Tin Sheds workshop between 1975-90 took place at the University Art Gallery and the Verge Gallery. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition featured a section of Tea and Yellowcake on the cover, whilst promotional posters for the show made use of Robertson's original poster. It was interesting to note that with time the blue-light fluorescence of the original poster had been forgotten. Within the exhibition it was displayed on a wall - framed but unlit. The image nevertheless remains a powerful one, reminding us of the dangers of the nuclear industry and the Wonderland-like craziness of modern life, where profit and jobs come before health and the environment.
The issues raised in the poster centred around the 23 August 1977 announcement by Malcolm Fraser's Liberal-Country Party Coalition government that the mining and export of Australian uranium would be permitted, though under strict guidelines. The government policy change from a prior ban would, somewhat controversially, allow mining in the Jabiru region on the western edge of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Aboriginal land would be mined in a venture whereby the government profited directly as a result of its 42% stake in the company operating the project.
There was a groundswell of public opposition to the announcement, following on widespread discussion amongst the Australian community during the lead up to the decision. It was inflamed by the French nuclear testing program in the Pacific during 1972-3, at which time the Labor Party was in government under the visionary Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Dismissal by the Governor General John Kerr in 1975 saw the end of Whitlam and a return to power of a conservative government led by Fraser. Outrage and opposition to the dismissal was widespread and spilled over into other areas of government policy and decision making. By the beginning of 1977 Australia was witnessing the biggest mass movement since the time of the Vietnam Moratorium marches of 1970-1, with anti-nuclear demonstrations across the country. Despite this, uranium mining and export proceeded and Fraser went on to win a second term in office at the election of December 1977. The anti-nuclear campaign nevertheless continued, seeking to limit expansion of the policies put in place by the then federal government. A number of posters coming out of the Tin Sheds addressed this issue, with Jan McKay's Anti-Uranium Dance of 1978 typical. The political nature of the poster is the primary element, with the bands performing - Kamikaze Kids and Mental as Anything - almost an afterthought.
Jan Mackay, Anti-uranium dance, Balmain Town Hall, screenprint, Earthworks Poster Collective, 1978.
Opponents to the nuclear industry at the time of Toni Robertson's Tea and Yellowcake poster pointed to the fear of Australian uranium being used for the proliferation of nuclear weapons and the growing concern over the safety of nuclear reactors. They also raised questions in regards to responsibility for disposal of nuclear waste and the possibility of environmental damage from mining operations in localities such as Kakadu National Park. All of these concerns were well-founded and many of the issues facing the nuclear industry in 1977 remain unaddressed to this day. The productions of posters such as Tea and Yellowcake were part of this protest against government policy, and artists involved with the Earthworks Poster Collective were especially active in this area between 1976-8. For example, Toni Robertson produced a number of anti-nuclear posters, with perhaps her most famous being the 1982 Royal Nuclear Show series of 6 silkscreened prints based on photographs taken at the Sydney Royal Easter Show.
Toni Robertson, The Royal Nuclear Show, silkscreen print, Earthworks Poster Collective, 1982.
According to the Design & Art Australia Online website, Toni Robertson worked as an artist and print maker from 1977 through until 1988. She subsequently gave up her art due to chemical poisoning received whilst working at the Tin Sheds and in connection with the toxic silk screening process. From 2002 she was professor and co-director of the Interaction Design and Human Practice Laboratory at the University of Technology Sydney, specialising in human-computer interaction.
Girls at the Tin Sheds 2015
In March 2015 an exhibition of feminist posters created by women at the Tin Sheds workshop between 1975-90 took place at the University Art Gallery and the Verge Gallery. The catalogue accompanying the exhibition featured a section of Tea and Yellowcake on the cover, whilst promotional posters for the show made use of Robertson's original poster. It was interesting to note that with time the blue-light fluorescence of the original poster had been forgotten. Within the exhibition it was displayed on a wall - framed but unlit. The image nevertheless remains a powerful one, reminding us of the dangers of the nuclear industry and the Wonderland-like craziness of modern life, where profit and jobs come before health and the environment.
References
Anti-nuclear Movement in Australia, Wikipedia [website], available URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-nuclear_movement_in_Australia. Accessed 1 August 2014.
Carroll, Lewis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Macmillan, London, 1865.
National Archives of Australia, In Office - Malcolm Fraser, [website], available URL: http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fraser/in-office.aspx. Accessed 1 August 2014.
Carroll, Lewis, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Macmillan, London, 1865.
National Archives of Australia, In Office - Malcolm Fraser, [website], available URL: http://primeministers.naa.gov.au/primeministers/fraser/in-office.aspx. Accessed 1 August 2014.
Robertson, Toni, Tea and Yellowcake, National Gallery of Australia [catalogue entry], available URL: http://artsearch.nga.gov.au/Detail-LRG.cfm?IRN=83997.
Toni Robertson [profile], Art Gallery of New South Wales, available URL: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/galleries/australian/featured-works/robertson/, accessed 1 August 2014.
Toni Robertson [profile], University of Technology, Sydney, available URL: http://research.it.uts.edu.au/idhup/people/toni-robertson/, accessed 1 August 2014.
Yuill, Katie, Girls at the Tin Sheds: Sydney Feminist Posters 1975-90, University Art Gallery, University of Sydney, March 2015, 72p.
Toni Robertson [profile], Art Gallery of New South Wales, available URL: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/galleries/australian/featured-works/robertson/, accessed 1 August 2014.
Toni Robertson [profile], University of Technology, Sydney, available URL: http://research.it.uts.edu.au/idhup/people/toni-robertson/, accessed 1 August 2014.
Yuill, Katie, Girls at the Tin Sheds: Sydney Feminist Posters 1975-90, University Art Gallery, University of Sydney, March 2015, 72p.
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Alice in Wonderland:
Alice in OZ |
Australian books |
Australian books (presentation) |
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Whitcombe's Alice |
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Last updated: 30 June 2021
Last updated: 30 June 2021
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