Signed: 'David Boyd' lower left
Dated: '1995' lower right
Provenance: The Artist

Europa envied the black Cockatoo. It seemed to own this vast land and it seemed to have complete freedom in it. She lusted after the noble affinity that the black cockatoo seemed to have with the land and the earth. She offered a gift in the hope that the cockatoo might trade some of his freedom with her. She though of more gifts and trinkets which might win over the trust of the cockatoo, but she was also fearful because the cockatoo seemed majestic yet strange and she could not quite understand its silent ways. She gazed longingly at the cockatoo's fine black body and scarlet plumage and inwardly she sensed that she was white and pale in comparison. Despite her paleness, she decided to prove to herself that she was in fact strong and powerful and, above all, clever. She knew if she could fly she would conquer the obstacles that this land placed before her.

'The Golden Plumed Wombat becomes a mystical creature that haunts Europa. The wombat is a patient figure that just sits there. The black cockatoo could be symbolic of the black people, the indigenous  people. And the black wings and tail could be symbolic of the blood that was shed. The black cockatoo is a dream. It is a sort of nightmarish figure and one of threat, and people are still afraid of this country… of the country itself. In particular, my generation and earlier, of course hated the gum trees. People would strip them; they would cut them right out; they would raise the countryside. Well they have, now they're beginning to learn to replant them, but then of course they believed there were all sorts of strange creatures from bunyips to God-knows-what-else. After all the earliest white settlements or rather invasions of the country took place and the earliest observations of creatures like Kangaroos and other wombats and platypuses… all these strange creatures you see, all had a mythological association.
In this picture Europa offers presents to the Black Cockatoo in the same way that European settlers offered Aboriginal people presents to appease them and in exchange for land. Europa believes that she can buy freedom and believes that others will want to exchange their lifestyle for the things she offers. The Sunflowers are of no use to the black cockatoo but Europa makes a gesture of exchange believing that she has something of value to offer.' David Boyd, St.Peters, 1996