Purchased through the Horsham Art Gallery Trust Fund, 2011

Purchased through the Horsham Art Gallery Trust Fund, 2013

Purchased through the Horsham Art Gallery Trust Fund, 2013

Waa Waa – Crow Feathers is a painting from Aunty Marlene Gilson’s 2022 exhibition ‘Bunjil Wour Kun Ya – Spirit of My Ancestors’. This work tells the story of Waa-Waa, the first Wadawurrung to see a white man, Matthew Flinders and his crew surveying the southern Australian coastline near the You Yangs on 1 May 1802. Speaking to Wyndham Art Gallery’s curatorial framework themes of Foregrounding, Habitat and Localism, the work portrays in Wadawurrung lore the first sighting of a European and acknowledges Australian First Nations peoples original and ongoing connections with land, history, politics and knowledges of place. The scene is overlooking the You Yangs which is deeply connected with the local place and habitat of the Werribee Plain. Aunty Marlene Gilson is a Wathaurung (Wadawarrung) Elder living on country in Gordon, near Ballarat. Marlene Gilson’s multi-figure paintings work to overturn the colonial grasp on the past by reclaiming and re-contextualising the representation of historical events. Learning her Wathaurung history from her grandmother, Gilson began painting while recovering from an illness. The artist’s meticulously rendered works display a narrative richness and theatrical quality akin to the traditional genre of history painting. Gilson, however, privileges those stories relating to her ancestral land, which covers Ballarat, Werribee, Geelong, Skipton and the Otway Ranges in Victoria. Often including her two totems, Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow, Gilson’s paintings not only reconfigure historical narratives, but display her spiritual connection to Country. australian first nations art, cultural story, australian painting, wathaurung, female artist

'King Billy' of Ballarat is also known as Frank Wilson, after the surname of an owner of Ercildoun Estate. He was buried in a Wesleyan burial plot at the Ballaarat Old Cemetery on 26 September 1896. The Anglican burial ceremony was organised by the community who thought 'King Billy' to be the last of his tribe. The Ballarat Star of 25 September 1896 stated: that Billy and his subjects 'once virtually owned all the land comprised of the City of Ballarat and its immediate surroundings 'so 'it can be considered only fair that six feet of ground should not be denied for his burial' The Australian Natives Association and the Australian Historical Records Society (later Ballarat Historical Society) took a major role in the burial of Frank Wilson. "As public interest and compassion grew, noteworthy citizens of Ballarat and two key Christian denominations appeared to jostle for pre-eminence in the ritual to follow. Whilst the 'venerable Archdeacon Mercer' from the Anglican Church took the funeral service, the cemetery trustees arranged that the body was placed in 'a central site in the Wesleyan section of the cemetery'. Frank was recorded as a Roman Catholic. The coffin was carried to the grave by several Methodists, including Justice of the Peace, Glenny, and Member of the Legislative Assembly, Kirton, as well as Old Colonists' and noted citizens. (https://www.academia.edu/3246304/2001_Remembering_King_Billy_Journal_of_Australian_Colonial_History_vol_3_2_61-80) Three Images relating to King Billy of Ballarat as illustrated in the Evening Echo Historical Edition 1904. * Image of a group of Aboriginal people. They are most most probably Wathaurung (Wadawurrung) . The picture includes ten standing males, two holding a boomerangs. Six females sit on the ground in front, three hold hats. A seated child wears a hat. * The burial of King Billy in the Ballaarat New Cemetery, 26 September 1896. * King Billy's Grave in the Ballaarat New Cemetery. wathaurung, wada wurrung, wathaurong, king billy, aborigines, aboriginal, frank wilson, mercer, ballaarat new cemetery, glenny, burial, mullawullah

maps, b&w illustrations, b&w photographswathaurung, woiworong, woi wurrung, bunorong, boon wurrung, taungurong, taungurung, derrimut, william thomas, port phillip protectorate

Includes articles on Simon Wonga, Aboriginal leader, Antecedent Force: The Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate Domestic European Constabulary 1840-1843, by Ian Clark.maps, b&w illustrations, b&w photographsbunurong, boon wurrung, woiworung, woi wurrung, taungurong, taungurung, wathaurung, wathaurong, jajowrong, dja dja wurrung, port phillip

This is the fourth volume in the series presenting 28 years of Thomas' journals, transcribed and annotated by Dr Marguerita Stephens (Vols 1-3). This volume provides a substantial collection of Thomas' records of Kulin Language - some reworked from earlier transcriptions by Dr Stephen Morey.b&w illustrations, word liststaungurung, boon wurrung, kulin, eastern kulin, wurundjeri, dja dja wurrung, wathaurung, wathaurong, bangerang, gunaikurnai, language revival

As the Yarra became unsuitable as a source of water, several attempts were made to find alternative sources for the growing population of Melbourne. It was not until 1891 that the efforts to sewer Melbourne came to fruition with the setting up of the Melbourne Metropolitan Board of Works (MMBW), now known as Melbourne Water. From 1891 until 1992, it was the responsibility of the MMBW to safeguard public health by providing a sewerage system and a safe water supply system. In 1992, The MMBW merged with a number of smaller urban water authorities to form Melbourne Water. The township of Cocoroc was created in 1894 at the Metropolitan Sewage Farm (now the Western Treatment Plant) to house the workers it employed. The name 'Cocoroc' means 'frog' in the language of the Wathaurung people — the Traditional Owners of the land the treatment plant was built on. By the early 1950s there were nearly 100 houses, a town hall, football ground (and team), swimming pool, tennis courts, four schools and a post office, and by the 1970s some 500 people were living in Cocoroc. As it became too expensive for the MMBW to subsidise, Cocoroc was abandoned. By 1973 most of the houses and other buildings were demolished or moved to Werribee. All that is left now of Cocoroc are two small, empty, concrete swimming pools, a few weatherboard sheds and a big iron water tank. This photograph detailing an exterior view of the North Cocoroc State Primary School, is historically significant as it captures children at play within a purpose built community. The School that was one of four was built to educate the children of the MMBW workers. As the school no longer exists, this photograph is the only tangible evidence left of the building, also showcasing the style of buildings in this era. cocoroc, township, school, mmbw, melbourne metropolitan board of works, melbourne water

maps, b&w illustrations, colour illustrations, colour photographsbangerang, bidawal, boonwurrung, dharwurd wurrung, dja dja wurrung, djab wurrung, gunnai kurnai, jardwadjali, jadawadjali, keerray woorroong, latji latji, peek wurrong, taungurung, wathaurung, wergaia, wotjobaluk, wurundjeri, yorta yorta