On a June day 300 years ago, the Dutch trading ship, Zuytdorp,
sank off the Western Australian coast near Kalbarri - and the event
is being marked with a new and exciting festival aptly named
Zest.
The Zest Festival will operate over five years, taking Kalbarri
and nearby communities to the 400th anniversary of the landing of
Dutch explorer Dirk Hartog, who had arrived safely in the
Kalbarri/Shark Bay area in 1616 - 96 years before the sinking of
the Zuytdorp.
The Zest Festival is co-organised by the Australian Research
Council Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions
(CHE). Based at The University of Western Australia, the
CHE's research aims to make a real difference in the lives of
country West Australians by providing them with a glimpse of a
significant collision between two worlds and igniting a new
interpretation of history as well as a new look at the town's
heritage.
"Our knowledge of this period in Dutch history can make an
impact on country WA," said the CHE's Chief Investigator, Winthrop
Professor Susan Broomhall. "It made a lot of sense for the
CHE to contribute our knowledge of the history of emotions to the
Zest Festival."
"The festival is triggering community enthusiasm and
participation," said Festival Coordinator Rebecca Millar of the
CHE. "For example, the Kalbarri Arts and Crafts Group is
making a Zuytdorp quilt. Some of these women are older than
70 and working with other artists and discussing how they can use
digital printing to reflect this significant event in a meaningful
and modern way."
The Zest Festival will include a 'Still Life/Our Life' exhibition
exploring the life of the Dutch in the 17th and 18th centuries
alongside life in Kalbarri today. Contemporary creative works
by Kalbarri local artists that reflect the modern Australian life -
domestic or exotic - will be exhibited in conjunction with images
of Dutch still life paintings and Dutch 17th century objects from
the Western Australian Museum's shipwreck collections.
A Chamber of Rhetoric (Dutch: rederijkerskamers) will also be
featured "We are taking the essence of the Chambers of Rhetoric
from Amsterdam, holding a storytelling event around a bonfire on
the Saturday evening," Ms Millar said. "The Kalbarri District
High School students with support from leading Indigenous actor
Ningali Lawford-Wolf have written, directed and will perform a play
about the Zuytdorp shipwreck and its survivors for the June 2012
Chamber of Rhetoric."
The Festival collaboration relates to the CHE's "Shaping the
Modern" program which emphasises an understanding of modern
Australia's emotional attachment to its past and to its European
heritage.
Additional items on the Festival event list include a Trade Winds
food and wine tastings, the unveiling of a commemorative plaque and
a Welcome to Country by local Nanda Elders.
The CHE is working on The Zest Festival with the Kalbarri
Development Association, the Shire of Northampton, the Kalbarri
Visitor Centre and the WA Museum, and the Dutch Embassy (officially
this is the Kingdom of the Netherlands). Kalbarri's annual
Canoe and Cray Carnival will introduce the Zest Festival, beginning
on 2-3 June 2012.
ZUYTDORP ZEST FESTIVAL TAPS ZEITGEIST