Coliban

This design, as so many of Peter Minko’s is firmly grounded in Central Victoria. Named after the river Coliban, a northward flowing stream with its source near Lyonville and flowing towards Bendigo, it provides the basis for the town’s water supply.

Near Redesdale, the river (depicted in either gold or platinum) with its sandy bank, forms a natural loop. This landscape feature provided much of the inspiration for this design and underlies the depicted flora (pink grevillea).

 

Goldfields Series

The Goldfield series is a tribute to the former gold rush days and the mining heritage of Central Victoria. In particular,the use of gold reflects the overall richness of the gold deposits, and the clear, fine lines combined with areas of colour, provide a sense of depth and spaciousness. The three layers of decoration suggest the tangle of undergrowth.

The wealth of natural flora of the region is represented in a woven layer of stylised red Grevillea. The blue blossom contains elements common to many of the floral species, and on the plates in this series, are often positioned to represent the Southern Cross.

By maintaining the same Goldfields design structure, but replacing the blue blossom with a representative gum or hakea blossom, a parallel series, known as Goldfields Blossom has evolved. Further modification of the series includes patterns contrasting gold and ochre against ironbark, the ironbark gum tree being synonymous with gold-bearing country.

 

Tarnagulla

Tarnagulla is a former Central Victorian gold mining town situated between Dunolly and Bendigo.
The design was inspired by the surrounding landscape of dry, grey bushland and the vestiges of earlier gold rush activity.

The green, blue, grey and black colours reflect aspects of living nature as seen in the wide diversity of gum-tree leaves and trunks. The distinctive black, redolent of iron bark and the unrestricted floating bark motives represent forest floor litter and the arid sparseness of the bush. The meandering bands of gold and the sinuous beds of mudstone reflect aspects of the geology and the hey-day of the gold rush in this area.

The final design element is a two fold amalgamation of aspects of indigenous flora - flecks of spring and summer wildflowers and a loose, open mesh of dry branches and twigs.

This design, either in its red or blue version represents seasonal variation. The distinctive red with its iron stained hue accentuates a hot, harsh environment whilst the blue-green alternative is highly suggestive of a moist and cooler climatic condition.
Tarnagulla is a design of great strength and power: a culmination of strong elements of the natural order depicted over a lattice of interlocking, balanced geometry.

 

Salomon Gully

Salomon Gully is a nature reserve close to the centre of Bendigo. In this series, a stylised grevillea and daisy refer to the diversity of flora found at this locale.
As one of the elevated reserves of Bendigo, the area affords panoramic vistas of ironbark forest. To the early miners, the ironbark was a sign of gold-bearing country and in keeping with this heritage, the Salomon Gully design features the ironbark colouring together with a subtle gold-rimmed profile of foothills set against the blue of a Bendigo sky.

 

Jackass Flat

The Jackass Flat pattern is structured around Peter’s interpretation and artist rendition of changes and activities that took place in the goldfields of Jackass Flat.

This pattern is a juxtaposition of the effects of human greed on one hand , a reference to activities associated with goldmining and the associated change of landscape and mans romantic hope of regaining lost values or re-establishing links with what he idealises and innocently projects as a perfect past - vibrantly portrayed in the pattern as rainbow links.