Julie Gough's The Missing was inspired by the 1830s government propaganda placards known as Governor Arthur's Proclamation to the Aborigines.

The aim of her work is to add to the conversation that the colonial silhouettes already located on the Midland created to also include a representation of cross-cultural interaction during the time period.

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"Ever since I saw those figures go up, it became for me this problem that Aboriginal presence was missing from the highway and most of the island," Gough said

Gough, a Trawlwoolway artist, writer and curator, said the work was the continuation of a solo exhibition she had held in Hobart in 2011 that was based around missing people, particularly Aboriginal children taken from their families.

"I wanted to bring this to light so others can come on the journey with me, or share information on missing children," she said.

Each silhouette is made from black metal, is 3.2 metres high, and will be spaced along the highway.

Two pairs of silhouettes depict a colonist and an Aboriginal man shooting or spearing the other.

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"Two of the four [silhouettes] are confronting, but that is a reality. Early on I decided I couldn't just show colonists shooting Aboriginal people," Gough said.

"I put both out there and showed that we [Aboriginal people] were spearing colonists."

Another silhouette shows the form of a lone woman holding a baby, which speaks to the Aboriginal children taken from their families and the servitude expected of them.

The last silhouette is of an Aboriginal man walking with a firestick to honour 50,000 years of cohabitation with Country.

The work will not just be a part of Mona Foma, but will be displayed permanently.

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