Exterior of the Garden Palace, Sydney, c1879. With a floor area of 20,000sq.m, the Garden Palace was three times the size of Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building and towered over the city.

Jonathan Jones with prototype ceramic shield on site at the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney. “Barrangal dyara is a response to the immense loss felt throughout Australia due to the destruction of countless culturally significant Aboriginal objects,” he says. “It represents an effort to commence a healing process and a celebration of the survival of the world’s oldest living culture despite this traumatic event.”

Aerial shot of barrangal dyara (skin and bones).

Jonathan Jones places shields down for barrangal dyara.