Colin is a founding member of the Armajun Aboriginal Medical Centre, Inverell. Also of the Woolangang Gweagle Bidgigal tribal Governing Council Indigenous Corporation and is currently an Ambassador for the upcoming film Pemulwuythe movie, produced by Phil Noyce.   The film is the truth-telling of the infamous Bidgigal warrior who resisted the European settlement from 1788 – 1804.

 

Colin relocated to Inverell from Sydney’s La Perouse in the early 1980s, where he has evolved into “one of the finest Aboriginal Artists Australia has ever produced”, as described by Mr Wesley Noffs, National National Director of the Life Education Centres). Mr Noffs presented this comment after Colin had produced a mural measuring 28 metres long by 3 metres wide for the Myall Creek Massacre Memorial near Bingara, NSW.

 

Colin is a founding member of the Myall Creek Memorial, one of Australia’s leading sites for reconciliation to acknowledge the 1838 massacre of the Girraway people of the Gomeroi. Historically, the first time settlers were hung for massacres.  He states, “Art and cultural expression are important to the Aboriginal people.  These images are not created solely to be ‘art, for art’s sake. These images are a form of communication.  They convey relationships to the land, the Dreaming, history, life experiences, and modern ideology.”

 

Colin’s artwork is pro-activism, where he portrays his unique interpretation of Aboriginal Culture on canvas, elaborate woodburning, high-quality artifacts, and textile and pottery design. Private collectors have purchased Colin’s art from Holland, Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom, Cypress, Canada, the United States of America, Japan and Australia.  Art is another form of communication, a language all people speak, which cuts across racial, cultural, social, educational and economic barriers.  A form of communication to express emotions, visions, imagination, entertainment or events beyond the capacity of words.