Hands and arms carved from a single piece of Huon pine connect A Gumbaynggir Language Dictionary and The Compact Oxford English Dictionary. The clothed male arm represents the dominance of English-speaking culture; its large hand grips the index finger of the female Aboriginal hand and arm emerging in a supinated or giving gesture from the open pages of a dictionary of a surviving Aboriginal language. The black fingers unfold reluctantly, one finger still touching the palm in a symbolic effort to retain the language - it is not a gesture of relinquishment!

Susan D White