Growing up, Edie Kurzer’s perceptions of Australia were shaped by the nature documentaries she consumed: whether that was bushman Harry Butler or the work of the Leyland brothers. An ode to the Australian bush, this natural history diorama features some of the format’s most recognisable personalities like Steve and Bindi Irwin and David Attenborough. Taxidermy cane toads sourced from a private collection in South Australia hark back to one of the country’s most popular documentaries, Cane Toads: An Unnatural History (1988), which captivated theatrical audiences in the late 80s. And of course, who could forget Skippy?
Curator Notes
Edie Kurzer is a celebrated Australian designer. Twice she has won the AACTA Award, the most prestigious prize for costume design in Australia, for her work on the iconic 6 part TV series Picnic at Hanging Rock (Foxtel /FremantleMedia) and the highly lauded ABC mini-series Molly. With Picnic she also won the coveted Australian Production Design Guild’s prize and in 2019 won it once more for the feature film Judy & Punch.
Over the past twenty-five years in Australia Edie has made crucial contributions to major productions such as: the Gillian Armstrong-directed documentary feature film Women He’s Undressed (about Orry Kelly); the influential TV mini-series Secret River and Violent Earth; and the feature films South Solitary (starring Miranda Otto), Look Both Ways, Matching Jack, and Thank God He Met Lizzie (starring Cate Blanchett, Richard Roxburgh and Frances O’Connor). She also designed costumes for Josh Thomas on his ground-breaking television series Please Like Me (season 4).
Internationally, Edie has worked with director Bill Bennett on both In a Savage land and Tempted (starring Burt Reynolds and Saffron Burrows) and with the renowned British film and theatre director Mike Leigh on the Royal Stratford Theatre’s production of A Greek Tragedy (London/Edinburgh/Sydney).
Edie has also collaborated in vital cultural and educational projects in Indigenous communities in major cities and in remote regions of Australia.
Related works
Collection
Not in ACMI's collection
On display until
16 February 2031
ACMI: Gallery 1
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
Curatorial section
The Story of the Moving Image → Foyer → Entry → FSF-02. Fed Sq Foyer Cabinets → FSF Cabinet 5
Object Types
3D Object
Diorama