Poetry of the Lakes by Dianne Firth

Anniversaries provide the opportunity for reflection and celebration and Lake Burley Griffin and nearby Lake George have anniversaries in 2024 . Lake Burley Griffin acknowledges Walter Burley Griffin as the designer of the national capital and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Robert Menzies 60 years ago on 17 October 1964. Lake George, known as Weereewa by the local indigenous people, was renamed by the colonial governor after the British King, George IV. Land grants to colonial settlers started around 200 years ago in 1824. Lake Burley Griffin is a controlled human construct, Lake George is a natural endorheic, or sink-lake whose water level responds to the seasons. Both lakes are significant water bodies in the Canberra region and both provide rich stories of their people and place. Firth invited poets associated with the Centre for Creative and Cultural Research at the University of Canberra to write about these lakes. Some chose one place, some chose both. Firth then used these poems as both inspiration and brief to create the textile works for this exhibition.