colonialism

"It was set up to gather the Indigenous people from out in the bush and chain them up and bring them into Coen ... to get them off the country," says artist and Kaantju traditional owner Naomi Hobson.

Now, in collaboration with photographer Greg Semu, Hobson has set out to explore this history by recreating brutal archival images.

But in Semu's images the script has been flipped — often the victims pose as abusers. And the entire Indigenous community of Coen was involved in the recreations.

Scared to speak

Each season when the eel was spawning along the Parramatta River, they would gather with other Indigenous tribes to celebrate and share stories.

After 1788, those practices were slowly lost as colonial settlers moved into the area.

On Sunday the annual Eel Festival at Elizabeth Farm in Rosehill will give visitors a chance to understand the ways of the Dharug people and how significant eel was to the way they lived.