POWERHOUSE COLLECTION

Embossed paper by Euraba Paper Company

Object No. 2008/38/1

In 2001 a group of women from the local community of Boggabilla started the Euraba Paper Company. Situated in the north western NSW cotton belt, Euraba utilizes the cotton fibre off cuts from clothing manufacturers that would otherwise be bound for the land fill. The off cuts are collected and recycled and put through the paper making process resulting in the papers and products of the Euraba Paper Company. The ladies began to experiment and set up a back yard mill in 2001. In forty four gallon drums they cooked up a range of things including scotch thistle and sunflower stalks. The women used old leg chairs to pound the washed cooked fibres making them ready to make paper. They constructed a home made pressing of river rocks and human bodies to provide the pressure to flatten the paper and then dried the sheets of paper on the clothesline. The paper mill use natural fibres as a continuation of a tradition which links the ladies to their female ancestors who used to weave local fibres into baskets as part of their traditional roles as gatherers. Today women of all ages from the community work together to turn 100% cotton fibre into paper as a means to provide and build a better future for the youth in the community. The fibres from both the river and surrounding land give the paper locality, identity and tradition, all of which are reflective and important to the papermakers.