Aboriginal Heritage Walk

There are also sanctioned versions of Melbourne's Indigenous histories - which usually concern their histories BEFORE settlement. An example is the tourist walk through the Royal Botanical Gardens, advertised on several tourist websites (such as 'Visit Victoria: http://visitvictoria.com) as follows:

Aboriginal Heritage Walk - Royal Botanical Gardens

See through different eyes with an Aboriginal guide as you walk the beautiful Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. The award-winning Aboriginal Heritage Walk is a vibrant cultural experience providing visitors with a greater understanding of, and respect for, the rich heritage of the local Boonwurrung and Woiwurrung (Wurundjeri) people. Explore traditional uses of plants for food, medicine, tools and ceremony. Discover the ancestral lands that the Royal Botanic Gardens now occupies.

My intention is not to deny or take away from this form of historical knowledge. Rather, I am questioning which histories are sanctioned, what knowledge is available and how and by whom are these histories presented to the public and/or visitors who are essentially (sometimes mis-) guided by these official histories - as opposed to other aspects of Indigenous history that are hidden, denied, or just not dealt with.

Note: both the Koori Heritage Trust and 'Bunjilaka' - the Aboriginal Cultural Centre at the Melbourne Museum - attempt to inform and educate the public about issues such as these through the collection, preservation and presentation of historical cultural material such as objects, images (paintings, drawings, photographs, etc), notes, oral histories and so forth, but sometimes by being in a museum environment degrees of 'editing' still occur.

Outside of these specific institutional frameworks, the work of many contemporary Indigenous artists addresses numerous and diverse aspects of Indigenous history that are denied/overlooked by the non-Indigenous population eg. see the works exhibited in the inaugural Australian Indigenous Art Triennial exhibition Culture Warriors, curated by Brenda L. Croft at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra: http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/NIAT07/ - or even better, buy the catalogue!

With the changes occuring in the social and physical landscape of Fitzroy, this blog is concerned with addressing the increasing loss of visual markers/resonances indicating past aspects of Indigenous history in the area through a proposal for an art project to provide a direct visual link for visitors to Gertrude Street, Fitzroy, and the presentation of information to (a) raise awareness of/remind the public(s) outside of the museum environment of this history and perhaps (b) provide links to eg. Bunjilaka at the Melbourne Museum, which is literally 'just down the road'.