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| Buffalo farmer Margaret Thompson, her son Michael and granddaughter Shauna. (Supplied: Alex Smith) |
By Amy Sheehan and Jennifer Nichols
Queensland farmer Margaret Thompson is used to fielding requests for buffalo milk, meat and hides.
But the 86-year-old from Maleny, in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, was not expecting a call asking for buffalo skulls to be used as musical instruments.
"It was a little bit of an unusual request," Ms Thompson said.
"But then after you talk through it, it seems like that's one of the best things to reach out for."
Former arts producer Alex Smith, who once worked in the office of the Timor-Leste president, was tasked with finding buffalo skulls for a unique performance.
His friend, acclaimed Timorese artist and musician Etson Caminha was invited to help open the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) in Brisbane in November.
Since 1993, the exhibition of contemporary art by hundreds of artists from the Asia-Pacific has attracted more than 4 million visitors.
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| Mai Nguyen-Long's Vomit Girl sculptures at the Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art. () |
But Mr Smith said Caminha's favourite instruments — his buffalo skulls — were unlikely to pass customs quickly enough for the opening ceremony.
"He was like, 'I know there are buffaloes in Australia, is there anything there?'" Mr Smith said.
"And so that started the hunt that led us to Maleny Buffalo."
Eight skulls and jaw bones gifted
Caminha is a graduate of the renowned Arte Moris Art School, established in Timor-Leste's capital, Dili, following the violent Indonesian occupation of the country between 1975 and 1999.
His music evolved from playing bass guitar to experimenting with everything from trees, stones and pots and pans to animal bones and skulls.
"When you play music from nature, everything is possible, because all music has its original roots in nature, before we crafted instruments," Caminha said.
He explained that the buffalo skulls were a link to traditional funeral practices in the Los Palos region of Timor-Leste.
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| Buffalo skulls are used in traditional funeral practices in Timor-Leste.() |
The skulls of buffaloes, sacrificed after people pass, are placed on poles and installed on their gravesites.
"They connect us to our ancestors and to the place we come from," Caminha said.
Maleny Buffalo was out of stock of processed skulls when the call for skeletal instruments came through.
They searched through a pit in a paddock to find eight skulls and jaw bones.
Carting home smelly bones "in various states of decay", Mr Smith had the daunting job of learning how to prepare them to be played as part of a major arts festival.
"There was a week that I had to try and get these things to a state where they could be displayed," he said.
"And that involved lots of crazy industrial chemicals, many trips to Bunnings, lots of hours on the internet watching people in the states prepare things like deer and bison skulls.
"And now I have a new-found appreciation of taxidermy."
The sound of music
The buffalo skulls that Ms Thompson provided were not the same shape as the one Caminha both paints and plays in Timor-Leste.
"The buffalo types that we use, mainly, here in Australia have much larger skulls and much shorter horns," Mr Smith said.
"So there was a little bit of a challenge at the beginning of him going, 'Hang on, that doesn't look like my buffalo.'"
Luckily they sounded the same.
"It's a series of kind of deep resonating clicks and taps that he uses wooden mallets to play along with," Mr Smith said.
"So that was a really unique way to mark the opening of the entire exhibition."
The Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, which runs until the end of April, also features an interactive display where visitors can compose their own piece of music from Caminha’s videos.
"With music you can strengthen the ties between cultures, you can share an experience without the barriers that we have with nations," Caminha said.
Back at Maleny Buffalo, Ms Thompson is pleased to have gifted the skulls to help the talented musician.
She was awarded a Churchill Fellowship study tour on buffalo farming in 2009, and said it "opened up her eyes" to the importance of small but significant steps in international relations.
"We need to build those sort of relationships, simple things like that mean a lot to everybody," she said.
"For me, it's just one way of working with another country."
First published at ABC News, January 11, 2025
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