Moonlite Studios, Mt Egerton

Moonlite Studios is a shared workshop on unceded Wadawurrung Country where Ross Annels and I develop parallel and intersecting practices.

The studio name carries a few threads. It begins with unceded Wadawurrung Country and the responsibilities of living and working here. It also nods to Captain Moonlite, a nineteenth century bushranger associated with this region, and to the story of his love for his companion James Nesbitt. That history includes violence, and we do not romanticise it. What stays with us is the trace of queer attachment and outsider life within it, a reminder that other ways of living and caring have long existed, even when punished or pushed aside.

Moonlite also carries the echo of moonlighting. Many of the crafts and experiments that grow here emerge from side sheds and after-hours work, carried alongside other jobs and responsibilities. The studio holds woodcraft, sound, drawing, ecological material research, and the slower rhythms that support them. We draw from many trades, research practices, and methods to consider how making can move with place.

Ross shapes the public-facing studio programs. My work moves alongside this, bringing its own pacing and investigations into materials and place.

The studio holds both practices without merging them, allowing each to deepen while sharing the same air, tools, and rhythms of learning.

Moonlite Studios is held by Wadawurrung Country. We acknowledge the Wadawurrung People as the Traditional Custodians and honour their unceded sovereignty, culture, and ongoing care for this place. We pay respect to Elders past and present and recognise the responsibilities of working and learning here.

Photograph of the Moon at Mount Egerton, Wadawurrung Country, 2025.