Subterranean Marron

Image source Taj Kempe

Artist: Jackson Harvey, Ed Riley

Asset Type: Mural

Year of Work: 2020

Location: Pump house, corner of Medic St and Harvey St, Collie

Provenance: Shire of Collie

Description: Subterranean Marron tells the story of a colony of marron that was bred deep beneath the earth during Collie’s days of underground coal mining.

To develop this piece, Jackson Harvey reached out to local conservationist, Ed Riley, to learn more about the relationship between the local community and the smooth marron (Cherax cainaii), a species endemic to Collie and the South West. Ed has years of experience working with the Department of Fisheries and was all too happy to share his knowledge of this local marron species with Jackson.

Through conversations with Ed, Jackson learnt about a period in Collie’s early underground coal mining days, when miners successfully bred marron in the depths of the mines, far from their natural habitats. As a consequence of being bred in the dark, these crustaceans developed blindness.

Subterranean Marron seeks to tell the story of these underground marron, taken from their river habitats and bred beneath the earth.