A SIGN has been unveiled at Sovereign Hill to acknowledge that the land the museum is built on belongs to the Wadawurrung people.
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The Acknowledgement of Country sign has been erected in the midst of the museum’s inaugural Gnarrwirring Ngitj – “learning together” in Wadawurrung language – festival.
The sign was officially unveiled on National Sorry Day, and ahead of next week’s National Reconciliation Week. It acknowledges that Sovereign Hill, the Gold Museum and Narmbool stand on land of Ballarat’s traditional owners.
Gnarrwirring Ngitj is designed to deepen the country’s understanding of Indigenous history and how the Goldrush affected local Aboriginal people. It’s also a celebration of Indigenous stories, traditions and history, with a week of free theatrical performances, lectures, demonstrations, digital tours and displays.
The festival will culminate in a corroboree to be held June 3 – the first to be held in 160 years.
Sovereign Hill festival organiser Alice Barnes said Gnarrwirring Ngitj, pronounced “no,wor-ring nitch”, was an attempt to better tell the stories of Indigenous people, tales that for so long had been hidden.
“We have been trying for quite a few years to do a better job of telling the Aboriginal story of the Goldrush,” Ms Barnes said.
“In 2015 we launched (website) Hidden Histories: The Wadawurrung People. There were Aboriginal people from all over Victoria that came to Ballarat. We thought that did a good job telling their story, but we wanted to take it a step further.”
She said Sovereign Hill was keen to relate the stories of the Wadawurrung and the roles they played in the Goldrush, playing a vital role “in the establishment of Ballarat as we know it now”.
She said Indigenous people helped clothe and feed the miners, who had arrived without survival skills to hunt native animals in Australia.
Ms Barnes said the Wadawurrung people also worked as native police and helped cart gold discoveries. They weren’t a security risk like the settlers as the Indigenous people didn’t value gold in the same way.
A range of other Indigenous events will be held throughout Ballarat for National Reconciliation Week. Ballarat Library will host a day of events including storytelling and basketweaving on Monday, while Federation University will host a traditional smoking ceremony, short film screenings and a tour of the university’s Aboriginal art collection.
For more information on Gnarrwirring Ngitj, visit www.sovereignhill.com.au/reconciliationweek
