This artwork was created in collaboration by Shanaya Sheridan and Josh Muir in 2018. Josh Muir was a proud Yorta Yorta, Gunditjmara and Barkinji man, who holds his culture close to his heart as it gives him a voice and great sense of identity. Josh is a Ballarat-based multimedia artist. In 2015 Josh was the recipient of the Telstra National Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Art Award – Youth Award and the Hutchinson Scholarship, through which he undertook a 12-month residency at the Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. Muir's work has been acquired by the Koorie Heritage Trust, The National Gallery of Australia, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, the National Gallery of Victoria and was commissioned as a major project artist by White Night. Shanaya Sheridan, is a proud Yorta Yorta, Dja Dja Wurrung and Boon Wurrung woman who has resided in Ballarat for 20 years, after living in Horsham, Shepparton and Melbourne. Growing up and watching her Elders, and their style of artworks, Shanaya is influenced by a traditional style of Aboriginal art, mixing it up with contemporary colours. This reconciliation piece is Shanaya’s first commission. Artists' Statement: '“This painting represents reconciliation across all lands, from the skies down to the waters including the mountains, grass and sand. The hands represent people of all cultures reaching for a brighter future, and the men and women in talks of how reconciliation can be achieved. Last but not least, the footprints represent our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ancestors that have fought for reconciliation before us and their steps/progress towards reconciliation.' Digital prints of this artwork on aluminum are displayed at Federation University Australia campuses at Mt Helen, Gippsland (Churchill), Berwick, Brisbane and Horsham.reconciliation, josh muir, shanaya sheridan, aboriginal, reconciliation action plan

camberwell, boroondara, heritage

camberwell, boroondara, heritage

noombapee is an etching and lithograph by Gunditjmara and Keerray Woorroong artist Vicki Couzens. Couzens is a multi-disciplinary artist focused on strengthening her language and culture through research and creative projects. noombapee was created during a 2018 Collie Print Trust Printmaking Fellowship at the Australian Print Workshop. The work is an example of Couzens’ reclamation and celebration of Indigenous languages. The title is a Gunditjmara term which approximately translates to ‘have mercy’ or ‘forgiveness’. The word ‘noombapee’ appears multiple times in the lower right corner of the composition. The left side of the work includes a letter to the editor of the Warnambool Standard, dated 3 April 1940 and authored by Vicki’s ngapoon (paternal grandfather), Nicholas Couzens. Couzens explains that ‘he was an activist and advocate for our rights living on the Framlingham mission.’

Jenna Lee dissects and reconstructs colonial 'Indigenous dictionaries' and embeds the works with new cultural meaning. Long obsessed with the duality of the destructive and healing properties that fire can yield, this element has been applied to the paper in the forms of burning and mark-making. In Without Us, Lee uses charcoal to conceal the text on the page, viewing this process as a ritualistic act of reclaiming and honouring Indigenous heritage while challenging the oppressive legacies of colonialism. Lee explains in Art Guide (2022), ‘These books in particular [used to create the proposed works] are Aboriginal language dictionaries—but there’s no such thing as “Aboriginal language”. There are hundreds of languages. The dictionary just presents words, with no reference to where they came from. It was specifically published by collating compendiums from the 1920s, 30s and 40s, with the purpose to give [non-Indigenous] people pleasant sounding Aboriginal words to name children, houses and boats. And yet the first things that were taken from us was our language, children, land and water. And the reason our words were so widely written down was because [white Australians] were trying to eradicate us. They thought we were going extinct. The deeper you get into it, the darker it gets. But the purpose of my work is to take those horrible things and cast them as something beautiful.’Framed artwork

Josh MUIR (1991- 2022) Yorta Yorta/Gunditjmara/Barkinjl Muir's art draws on hip-hop and street art culture and often depicts the history of indigenous people and European settlers. He spent a lot of time in his teens researching and enjoying public art, especially graffiti. Inspired by the commitment of graffers he was inspired by the concepts they illustrate. He started expressing his own ideas with pen and pad and once the basic concept down and it was tangible and could be converted that to canvas or walls. Muir experimented with spray and stencil work a lot in his teens and later branched out into acrylic paints, paint pens, and digital forms of Art. In 2016 Josh Muir's work 'Still Here', projected onto the front wall of the National Gallery of Victoria was critically acclaimed. At that time he stated: "‘I am a proud Yorta Yorta/ Gunditjmara man, born and living in Ballarat, Victoria. I hold my culture strong to my heart – it gives me a voice and a great sense of my identity. When I look around, I see empires built on aboriginal land. I cannot physically change or shift this, though I can make the most of my culture in a contemporary setting and use my art projects to address current issues of reconciliation." In 2016 Josh Muir was awarded the second recipient of HMS Trust’s Hutchinson Indigenous Fellowship at University of Melbourne, based at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). The Fellowship was created to enable Indigenous artists to undertake significant projects of their choice. Computer generated image on canvas.josh muir, aboriginal, artwork, artist, hutchinson indigenous fellowship

This book, written by Maxine Philp-Wright and illustrated by John Bagley, provides a visual, informative and light-hearted introduction to tourist spots along the Great Ocean Road and the areas around Warrnambool and Tower Hill. It is particularly suitable for children of all ages and it deals with the themes of nature-based tourism, reconciliation between Europeans and aborigines and multi-culturalism. It includes references to Australian flora and fauna as seen through the eyes of an international visitor, an Australian family and a Spanish migrant and it urges full appreciation of the places visited with the motto, ‘Go Slow is the Go!’This book is of interest because of its themes of multi-culturalism, indigenous culture appreciation and local Great Ocean Road tourism. This is a soft cover booklet of 33 pages with a white cover with multi-coloured images on the front cover (Tower Hill, a car and a turtle) and printing and three colour photographs on the back cover.tower hill, shipwreck coast, victoria, warrnambool

merri-bek public art collection

Newspaper article: A sustainable award, Diamond Valley Leader, 1 November2006, Architect and building Llewellyn Pritchard won resource Efficiency Housing Award, finalist in HIA Greensmart Building of the Year Award. House – Environmental Leader (Published: Nillumbik Now and Then /​ Marguerite Marshall 2008; photographs Alan King with Marguerite Marshall.; p186) In 2006 environmental awareness was mushrooming in the community, which is reflected in the award-winning house at Main Road near Wattletree Road, Eltham. At first sight, the building appears a mix of a classic Eltham mud-brick house and an avant-garde building style. The crown of solar panels stretching along the width of the curved roof, indicates that this is no ordinary house. In fact it signals a new building trend of minimal impact on the environment. Yet it utilises the environment with high technical expertise to achieve comfort and cut running and maintenance costs. In recognition of this, its designer/builder, Conscious Homes, won the 2006 National HIA Greensmart Resource Efficiency Award. For Conscious Homes director, Llewellyn Pritchard, this house reflects a philosophy, strengthened by his connection with Aboriginal culture, through his foster siblings. Pritchard believes the sustainable way indigenous Australians lived and their spiritual connection with land, demonstrates how humanity is part of the ecology. His interest in environmental design stemmed from growing up in bushy Eltham Shire, with its mud-brick tradition. This was followed by studying Architecture at RMIT in the early 1980s, and learning about passive solar design. Pritchard says this house demonstrates that environmental sustainability is not about sacrifice, but about exceptional levels of occupant comfort, savings in running costs and modern fittings and appliances.1 The solar panels on the north roofs are intentionally obvious to make a statement about what the building is doing. But inside the systems are hidden and interactive with conventional services, such as the underground water tank. The house is water and energy self-sufficient and at 12 squares is much smaller than conventional houses, to minimise resources. Yet it accommodates his family of four with three bedrooms, a living/dining and kitchen area and a bathroom/laundry. Importantly the building is designed to last hundreds of years, by being able to be modified as the need arises, such as for commercial use. In this way the structure minimises its environmental impact. The solid double mud-brick walls (which are insulated) include steel beams and supporting frame, allowing the future removal or alteration of any section. The materials are local, recycled and of low toxicity where possible.2 Inside and out, the mud-brick is rendered and sealed with a combination of cement and sand and a mud-based coating in a soft golden hue increases its life. Inside, the golden-brown timber is plantation Mountain Ash and the concrete floors throughout – of local stone aggregate with a clear seal – have a natural looking random stone appearance. The house sustains a stable temperature of around 20 degrees, assisted by the concrete slab floor. The many large double-glazed windows and highlights (windows set high on walls) provide cross-flow ventilation. The north-facing living area maximises heating from the lower winter sun and is cooler in summer, because the sun is higher. Heating comes from a solar hydronic slab system. All appliances and fittings are high efficiency energy or water rated. Appliances in the timber kitchen include a gas stove and a dishwasher, using the building’s own power and water. French doors open from the living area to a deck, concealing the treatment system for all waste water. This is pumped through sub-soil drippers to the indigenous garden beds and no-dig vegetable patch. Below the carport is the 80,000-litre rainwater tank and at the back, the boiler room houses the solar boiler, water tank access, domestic water supply pump, filter gear and hydronic slab heating controls. The solar system is backed up with gas, which is needed to heat water only in winter. Gas used is less than one quarter of that for an average home with ducted heating. Excess power is fed back to the grid and the building uses about one quarter of the mains electricity of an average home. Other local builders have followed Pritchard’s lead in resource efficiency for minimal environmental impact.main road, eltham, businesses, llewellyn pritchard, hia greensmart building of the year award., efficiency housing award, conscious homes australia pty ltd