We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the place now called Victoria, and all First Peoples living and working on this land. We celebrate the history and contemporary creativity of the world’s oldest living culture and pay respect to Elders — past, present and future.
Please be aware that this website may contain culturally sensitive material — images, voices and information provided by now deceased persons. Content also may include images and film of places that may cause sorrow.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this website may contain culturally sensitive material — images, voices and information provided by now deceased persons. Content also may include images and film of places that may cause sorrow.
Some material may contain terms that reflect authors’ views, or those of the period in which the item was written or recorded but may not be considered appropriate today. These views are not necessarily the views of Victorian Collections.
Users of this site should be aware that in many areas of Australia, reproduction of the names and photographs of deceased people is restricted during a period of mourning. The length of this time varies and is determined by the community.
Reuse of any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander material on this site may require cultural clearances. Users are advised to contact the source organisation to discuss appropriate reuse.
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Welcome to Country! Learn about Koorie Culture: our people, our flags, and history.
CULTURAL WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander users are warned that this material may contain images and voices of deceased persons, and images of places that could cause sorrow.
Film - Koorie Heritage Trust and Kimba Thompson, 'Our Flags' (excerpt from Wominjeka (Welcome)), Koorie Heritage Trust
Courtesy of Koorie Heritage Trust
There are three parts of our Aboriginal flag which represent the people the earth and the sun. The black at the top represents the Aboriginal people whose ancestors have lived in Australia for tens of thousands of years. Yellow represents the sun, the giver of all life and red represents the earth.
The Torres Strait Islander flag. The colour green is for our land, blue for the sea and the Dhari is the symbol for all Torres Strait people, the black represents the people the five pointed star represents our island group.
Can you reuse this media without permission? No (with exceptions, see below)
All rights reserved
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Please acknowledge the item’s source, creator and title (where known)
© Copyright of Koorie Heritage Trust Inc.
Courtesy of Koorie Heritage Trust
Wominjeka profiles Victorian Koorie culture and Koorie organisations across Victoria. This excerpt talks about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
Executive Producer: Koorie Heritage Trust
Producer Kimba Thompson
Map - Aboriginal Language Map of Victoria, Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages, Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages
Courtesy of the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages
Can you reuse this media without permission? No (with exceptions, see below)
All rights reserved
This media item is licensed under "All rights reserved". You cannot share (i.e. copy, distribute, transmit) or rework (i.e. alter, transform, build upon) this item, or use it for commercial purposes without the permission of the copyright owner. However, an exception can be made if your intended use meets the "fair dealing" criteria. Uses that meet this criteria include research or study; criticism or review; parody or satire; reporting news; enabling a person with a disability to access material; or professional advice by a lawyer, patent attorney, or trademark attorney.
Please acknowledge the item’s source, creator and title (where known)
© Copyright of Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages
Courtesy of the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages
Prior to colonisation there were approximately 250 Indigenous languages spoken in Australia - approximately 38 in Victoria.
Some of these had several varieties, and there were altogether about 500 language varieties used across Australia. Before settlement Indigenous individuals were capable of speaking five or more languages fluently. When two people met, they could identify the region each came from by the way they spoke.
The boundaries between one language area and another are not distinct. Rather, mixtures of vocabulary and grammatical construction exist in such regions, and so linguistic maps may show some variation about where one language ends and another begins. Many Australian Indigenous languages have declined to a critical state. More than three-quarters of the original Australian languages have already been lost, and the survival of almost all of the remaining languages are extremely threatened. Language is a part of Indigenous culture, and knowledge about culture is a means of empowering people.
Language contributes to the wellbeing of Aboriginal communities, strengthens ties between elders and young people and improves education in general for Indigenous people of all ages. Today, Indigenous communities throughout Victoria, supported by VACL, are reviving their languages through language camps, workshops, school programs and educational material for children, music and dictionaries. For further information, please visit www.vaclang.org.au
Note: this map is not suitable for Native Title claims.
Film - Richard Frankland and Golden Seahorse Productions, 'Baranjuk, Musk Duck, The Wally Cooper story: Introduction', 1995, Koorie Heritage Trust
Courtesy of Koorie Heritage Trust
[MUSIC PLAYING]
My name is Baranjuk. In my language-- the Yorta Yorta language-- it means "musk duck." When I was a boy, my grandfather gave me that name. My non-aboriginal name is Wally Cooper.
This is Yorta Yorta land. Since the creators brought the people here and showed them the land, it has been Yorta Yorta land. When the Yorta Yorta were brought here, they were given a language and told that the language belonged to them. And it belonged to the land, and they must care for it.
I grew up around this land here-- all through this forest. It's part of my heritage. It's part of what my grandfather taught me. We walked through these forests looking for different types of food. This is part of my heritage around here.
And we looked around, and I learned all about the dancing, the songs, the art, and the special dances-- like our spiritual dances, our traditional spiritual heritage dances. Those are the things that I hold very close and very dear to myself. It's something that I'm going to share and show to my sons.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
This is my land-- Yorta Yorta land. This is where my grandfather taught me the dances, the songs, and special language songs as part of our traditional heritage. And this is where he gave me the stories to hand to my children.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Can you reuse this media without permission? No (with exceptions, see below)
All rights reserved
This media item is licensed under "All rights reserved". You cannot share (i.e. copy, distribute, transmit) or rework (i.e. alter, transform, build upon) this item, or use it for commercial purposes without the permission of the copyright owner. However, an exception can be made if your intended use meets the "fair dealing" criteria. Uses that meet this criteria include research or study; criticism or review; parody or satire; reporting news; enabling a person with a disability to access material; or professional advice by a lawyer, patent attorney, or trademark attorney.
Please acknowledge the item’s source, creator and title (where known)
© Copyright of Koorie Heritage Trust Inc.
Courtesy of Koorie Heritage Trust
Uncle Wally Cooper is a Yorta Yorta Elder.
Uncle Wally’s story talks about the land, language and culture of the Yorta Yorta people, and how his grandfather taught him about his traditional heritage to pass onto his children.
Written & directed by Richard Frankland
Produced by Golden Seahorse Productions
Sponsored by The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
Film - Richard Frankland and John Foss, 'Lady of the Lake, Aunty Iris' Story', Koorie Heritage Trust
Courtesy of Koorie Heritage Trust
…Mission…my homeland, there were killings, there was blood, blood that flowed into the land…
My name is Iris Lovett-Gardiner and I am a …my clan is the Kerrupjamara from Lake Condah and I will try to explain to you this Diorama here of the place where my people lived and survived. The first thing that I’ll talk about was where they lived was near a mountain and the mountain threw out rocks…it was a volcano…so it threw out the rocks and they made use of the rocks that were thrown out to them. They made use of the rocks because of the way they lived an’ they made fish traps an’ they made their houses…stone houses…from the rocks. An’ all Aboriginal people have settled where there was something that represents a living structure to them…like some people lived near where there’s timber an’ stuff like that but our people lived beside the Lake.
Can you reuse this media without permission? No (with exceptions, see below)
All rights reserved
This media item is licensed under "All rights reserved". You cannot share (i.e. copy, distribute, transmit) or rework (i.e. alter, transform, build upon) this item, or use it for commercial purposes without the permission of the copyright owner. However, an exception can be made if your intended use meets the "fair dealing" criteria. Uses that meet this criteria include research or study; criticism or review; parody or satire; reporting news; enabling a person with a disability to access material; or professional advice by a lawyer, patent attorney, or trademark attorney.
Please acknowledge the item’s source, creator and title (where known)
© Copyright of Koorie Heritage Trust Inc.
Courtesy of Koorie Heritage Trust
Lady of the Lake, is the story of Gunditjmara Elder Aunty Iris Lovett-Gardiner and her life at Lake Condah in the western districts of Victoria.
Aunty Iris’s story includes working at the showgrounds, life in the canneries and graduating from Deakin University. It also shows the hope, humour and compassion and courage of an Aboriginal Elder always mindful of the spirit of her Gunditjmara people and of the need to ‘tell the truth and tell it ever’.
Writer/director Richard Frankland
Produced by John Foss
Sponsored by The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission
Victorian Collections acknowledges the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the first inhabitants of the nation and the traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn and work.
