Doontanboro Kura – Melville Waters Dreaming is a beautiful exhibition which will immerse visitors in Noongar language and culture and is open to the public from October 4 – 27, at Wireless Hill Museum from Wednesday to Sunday 10am to 4pm.
Featuring projections, animations and soundscapes, alongside handcrafted works, this immersive exhibition is the culmination of Place Names Melville, a two-year Noongar-led project decoding the meanings of ancient Noongar placenames found in the Melville area.
Visitors to Doontanboro Kura will be invited to connect with Noongar culture and language, generously shared by the Noongar Elders, Traditional Owners and community members who have worked with artists to create the artworks displayed.
Central to the exhibition is a large-scale, handmade map of the Melville area that features the locations of 17 ancient Noongar placenames, layered with traditional Noongar iconography referencing the plants, animals and rituals of this boodja (land).
Another highlight is a massive animated projection of the ancient Noongar story of the creation of Wagoorjup (where the two rivers meet, at Canning Bridge) that will illuminate Wireless Hill, screened four times during the exhibition season. Learn more about the Wagoorjup animation.
Those screenings will take place at four special evening events:
The exhibition launch, on Friday October 4 will include talks from the Noongar participants about the stories and meanings embedded in the artworks, and the processes behind their creation, as well as refreshments.
On October 11 Fireside Friday: Yarning with Elders, is an opportunity to sit around a fire and hear stories from the Country and people.
Mapping Boodja, on Thursday October 24, takes visitors on a guided tour of Noongar placenames decoded during the project, exploring their meanings and the stories and traditions embedded in the Melville area.
The last opportunity to see the Wagoorjup projection will be at the Closing Celebration, on Saturday October 26, which will include artist talks, a DJ set and an opportunity for yarning with friends and family.
At the heart of this exhibition, and the Place Names Melville project, is language revitalisation; the reclaiming of the original Noongar placenames of the Melville area and their meanings and cultural significance. The process of decoding these ancient placenames was facilitated by Whadjuk Nyungar Traditional Owner Dr Len Collard from Moodjar.
Of the more than 250 Indigenous Australian languages spoken at the time of colonisation, by 2016 only 120 were still spoken and in 2019, 90 per cent of these were considered endangered*.
Place Names Melville is part of a national movement to reverse this trend, by preserving First Nations language and culture. For the Noongar Elders, Traditional Owners and community members involved in Place Names Melville, the project has had many benefits in terms of intergenerational learning, truth-telling and healing.
Place Names Melville is the result of an innovative partnership between Community Arts Network, Moodjar and the City of Melville, and is funded by Lotterywest.
Read more about the Place Names Melville project here. *https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/languages-alive
