Birrpai: Dancing Beyond the Lens of Thomas Dick

As part of our 2026 Festival Ngioka Bunda-Heath brought her amazing dance "Birrpai" to the Saltwater Freshwater Gallery across 3 days

— Imagine seeing photos of your ancestors in museums, taken by people documenting an ‘exotic’ sighting

From whose lens do we view memory, history, and culture?

Birrpai – Dancing Beyond the Lens of Thomas Dick is a talk, performance, and photographic exhibition refocusing the lens on the UNESCO-listed Thomas Dick Birrpai Photograph Collection. This collection of historical photos was taken from 1910 by non-Indigenous Port Macquarie oyster farmer Thomas Dick and to portray pre-contact Birrpai life and people. 

Birrpai – Dancing Beyond the Lens of Thomas Dick is a thought-provoking celebration and remembrance of family by the descendants of the photos: Birrpai Traditional Owner, historian and father John Heath; and his daughter, dancer and choreographer Ngioka Bunda-Heath.