Vale The WILLOWman

Jed Gillian, widely known as "The Willow Man," was a highly respected Tasmanian artisan, master basketmaker, and educator renowned for his extensive knowledge and cultivation of basketry willow. Tragically, he passed away peacefully on 21 July 2026 at the age of 77 following a prolonged hospital stay.

He left behind a profound legacy within the Australian and international basketry communities, remembered as much for his warm, generous nature as for his masterful craftsmanship.Legacy and Contributions to BasketryMaster

Craftsman & Educator: For decades, Jed taught traditional willow basketry techniques across Australia. His extensive teaching history included highly regarded workshops for organizations like the Basketmakers of Victoria and the Basketmakers of Tasmania.

His workshops covered complex projects ranging from traditional willow laundry baskets to specialized weaving techniques.

Willow Cultivation: Beyond weaving, Jed was a vital supplier of quality basketry willow. He dedicated significant effort to growing, harvesting, and processing willow varieties, generously supplying materials for courses across the country—including material for specialized community coffin-weaving workshops.

Community Pilllar: He was a mainstay at national craft gatherings, including the National Basketry Gathering in Tasmania, where he was celebrated for sharing his historical knowledge of willow-weaving traditions, such as analyzing the lineage of traditional Italian and English border styles found in historic Australian baskets.

Celebration of Life Following his passing in July 2026, the basketmaking community and his family, including Jeltje and Minka Gillian, hosted a casual community gathering on 8 August 2026 at the Collinsvale War Memorial Hall in Tasmania. In a fitting tribute to his iconic personal style, attendees were invited to wear striped T-shirts in his honour.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DbC1wpJAuaM/

WHAT MAKES A PLANT EVIL

 

WILLOW

Bureaucratically in Tasmania ALLwillows are seen aa EVILplants and that's because they are mismanaged and misunderstood. Yes willows were introduced from elsewhere and because they are now mismanaged their 'usefulness' in the Tasmanian CULTURAL landscape is misunderstood despite their usefulness and attributes. 

Willows in Tasmania are declared environmental weeds and 'Weeds of National Significance', meaning their importation, sale, and distribution are legally prohibited.

Sadly all this is contestable as MANAGEDwillows are a viable resource and especially so in cultural landscaping devised and designed to manage better land use strategies ... See https://raynorman7250.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_6.html

Arguably here in TOPdown autocratic bureaucracies we find the phenomena  of 'Premeditated Ignorance' ... SEE ...  https://www.sherwinarnott.org/2026/02/interesting-idea-premeditated-ignorance/

Willow's Supposed Environmental Impact:

• Choke waterways and alter natural water flow.
• Drop large branches without warning.
• Form dense root thickets that cause severe bank erosion and flood risks.
• Destroy local habitats, making it hard for native species like the platypus to forage or burrow.
• Degrade water quality when massive blankets of fallen leaves rot and deplete oxygen levels.

Management and Removal

• Local councils actively run removal and restoration programs (such as projects along the Hobart Rivulet and in Launceston) to clear out invasive trees.
• Landowners are encouraged or required to control willow growth on their properties.
• Cleared areas are replanted with local native grasses, shrubs, and trees to restore natural riverbank health

VIDEO

REFERENCES

• ... https://willowweaverstasmania.blogspot.com/2017/11/willow-and-permaculture.html

• ... See https://minister.homeaffairs.gov.au/JoshWilson/Pages/hobart-rivulet-restoration-project-cracking-on-with-willow-removal.aspx

ANCIENT BASKETRY

Archaeologists Say They’ve Uncovered Europe’s Oldest Basketry

Dating back 9,500 years, the prehistoric finds shed light on Mesolithic hunter-gatherer societies and Neolithic farming communities.

https://hyperallergic.com/archaeologists-say-theyve-uncovered-europes-oldest-basketry/

Wickery & Sieglinde Karl-Spence & Launceston

SOURCE: http://sieglindekarl-spence.com.au/

secret places 

 1996 

 a collaborative project with funding from Contemporary Art Services Tasmania and a Pat Corrigan Artists Grant – and supported and assisted by Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery, Launceston. Kate Hamilton – photographer Sieglinde Karl – artworks Ron Nagorcka – music Hazel Smith – performance text 

Artist Statement Secret Places grew out of discussions with Hazel Smith concerning secret sites, hidden knowledge, invisible forces, psychological states of mind, ancient cultures and mythology. My own work was also informed by reading Carl Jung and Mircea Eliade, Overlay by Lucy Lippard, Dreaming with Open Eyes by Michael Tucker and Women who Run with the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. Further inspiration was gleaned from contemplating the metamorphosis of butterflies and cicadas, and visits to ancient Aboriginal sites in Tasmania. These were the threads that were incorporated into the Casuarina Woman, interwoven with my own metamorphosis through the crises of middle life and a process of reconciliation with my German background.... click here to read more

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1990 Transfigured Spirits

No Words Required

An Internet Gleaning

While this image doesn't tell us all that much about wickery in Launceston or Tasmania it does speak rather loudly of another time and another place,... Sweden apparently and pre WW1 possibly. 

The image poses a question or two about this maker's(?) social status. For instance, if this man was the maker of this wickery, was he dressed-up to pose. If so, for what purpose?

Was his life comparable to 'wickery makers' of his time in other places. Did this photograph have a purpose other than say a postcard?

Wickery, along with other cultural production traveled across various borders but nonetheless it spoke of it's origins. Currently, images such as this are somewhat careless of borders and the cultural landscapes they infer exists, or existed, elsewhere. They travel at the speed of light and they will not always make sense everywhere they turn up.

It is unsurprising that this image poses the questions that it does!

Noah's Wickery Coricle

LINK https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/744174659624/the-real-noahs-ark

Wickery & Mysteries

There is quite a bit that is not known about this image. Firstly, the WICKERYbowl is a great gift from a friend but that's how it'll always be known perhaps. The apples in it, well there were supposed to be three varieties grafted to the tree it grew on but it turned out that there is just the one and nobody knows what it is called - it tastes good and cooks well however. 

The apples taste very good and this season the tree has sent up some long 'rods' that might just find their way into a 'bit of wicvkery' but what it will look like ... that' a mystery! 

But there is no mystery about it being useful and a talking point just sitting there holding stuff that needs holding from time to time.

Then there is less of a mystery about the mats. They were made in Pavenham,  Bedfordshire UK, by 'Mrs. Morgan' (AKA Pamela Morgan) in 1972 from English 'soft rush'. They have been in regular use since then. 

Mrs Morgan revived Pavenham's 'rushwork' in 1946 after the war. However, her passing is a mystery yet Bedfordshire's 17th C rushwork wickery heritage lives on. So there we go!

Chinese Wickery Using Banana Fibre

Here are some Chinese banana fibre boxes. Kay remembers that the people who cut the banana trees/stools down came into the factory and then became the work force for box making. One of the boxes was exported to Japan to be used as a take-a-way lunch box for the everyday work force – probably making Honda cars with lots of plastic trims. Why not banana dash boards on bamboo chassis?.

SEE THESE ... More on banana fibre:

• http://www.dacclothing.in/index.php/banana-fibre
• https://www.exportersindia.com/raja-exports/banana-fiber-shirts-thanjavur-india-96835.htm
• http://hellofromdavao.blogspot.com.au/2013/04/banana-fiber-from-sto-tomas-export-hit.html
• https://aththammageathbeheth.blogspot.com.au/2016/09/24.html
• https://www.tradeindia.com/manufacturers/banana-fibre.html
• https://www.exportersindia.com/indian-suppliers/banana-fibre-products.htm

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IMAGES COURTESY Chris & Kay Harmen Tasmania from their 2015 visit to China and the town where Chris was born. The photos are from January 2015 in the factory Zhangzhou, Fujian Province, China. The two blonde-haired women in the photos are Chris’s sisters from the UK who joined Chris & Kay in HK for the 4-week journey into China, particularly to their birth places – Chris in Xiamen and the two girls in Zhangzhou.

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CLICK HERE TO LINK TO WICKERY7250 SITE

Mat Weaving on The Mekong

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FACEbook is spreading all kinds of messages all the time and increasingly globally. There are always messages to be taken away

But look at all the plastic hanging about here! The weaving is great and it probably gets a good price away from the Mekong as it should since it probably will not be adding to the RUBBISHraft in the PACIFIC or somewhere else?!