Strathnairn Arts Aboriginal Anzac Exhibition

Text and Photo by Kyle Evans

In light of this year’s Anzac Day, Strathnairn Arts Centre in Holt held a special exhibition on Sunday commemorating the Aboriginal ANZACs who served in the world wars.

The event took place as part of this year’s Canberra Region & Heritage Festival, and featured a photographic exhibition, as well as an interpretive walk of the surrounding country.

Heading the project was the Director of Thunderstone Aboriginal Cultural & Land management Services, Tyrone Bell, who’s devoted his life to cultural/heritage projects for the last twenty eight years.

‘’This project is very important and significant to me, because it’s about aboriginal custodians who went and fought for a country that did not recognize them.’’

Although the mainstream media is much more conscious about recognizing the contributions of Aboriginal serviceman than they once were, Bell insists there are still improvements to be made.

‘’I think there is a lot more which the War Memorial and the Federal Government could do. I think people need to understand not only the story of Aboriginal Anzacs, but also the local Ngunawal Anzac’s who served.’’

Bell, who financed the event himself, states that his main motivation was to be able to tell a story about Aboriginal Anzacs that too often goes untold. However he goes on to say that some more assistance would be welcome.

‘’I’ve invested a lot of my finances into telling my story, but I think that if the Government could assist me in promoting these stories I think it would go a long way with ties into reconciliation.’’

The event was a collaborative project between Thunderstone Aboriginal Cultural & Land management Services and the Ginninderra Catchment Group.

Coordinator of the GCG Karissa Preuss, says they have been working with Thunderstone on a project about the cultural heritage of the Ginninderra catchment for the last two years.

‘’GCG wanted to work more closely with aboriginal people, and at that time there was an ACT heritage grant coming out, so we sat down with thunderstone and developed a grant proposal and were awarded.’’

Collaborating together, Thunderstone and the GCG developed a series of walks and talks focusing on aboriginal cultural heritage. Sunday’s walk was the third in a series of six walks that have followed from Mulligans creek at the top of the catchment all the way down to the Murrumbidgee River.

‘’One of the strengths is not only looking at the physical artifacts in the landscape but also talking about that ongoing spiritual connection that aboriginal people have with the land,’’ Preuss said.

The Canberra Region & Heritage Festival runs from the 11^th through to the 26^th of April.