ARTIST Shu Brown says healing is needed both for the past and future, but there was progress.
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The Ballarat Adnyamathanha man, whose traditional lands are in South Australia's Flinders Ranges, has created Healing Scars for Cafs and their ongoing reconciliation work.
Mr Brown has unveiled his work for Child and Family Services Ballarat's Reconciliation Week celebrations on Monday, including the re-naming of meeting rooms in First Nations language.
Healing Scars features figures in "all shades of black" to represent Indigenous peoples of varying skin colours. They sit before scars and are connected by hearts.
There is inter-generational trauma and we're all on our own journey but that trauma as well can be changed.
- Shu Brown, artist
"This is what Cafs does and what services they're providing," Mr Brown said.
"They are working with families and children to support them in keeping children in family care. It's not only children, Cafs is working with the elderly and Stolen Generations, including where people came from to orphanages here.
"This is a healing process for Aboriginal healing. Scars are circled by family...There is inter-generational trauma and we're all on our own journey but that trauma as well can be changed.
"I wanted to capture what the organisation does and how it supports the community and journeys on the healing pathway."
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Mr Brown's artwork will be prominently used in Cafs' upcoming Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan.
Cafs chief executive officer Wendy Sturgess said the organisation's work, in partnership with Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative, was about ongoing healing.
Ms Sturgess said the Cafs had deliberately used Reconciliation Week to highlight the changes it was making.
This includes seeking permission from traditional owners in the region to use the names Dja Dja Wurrung, Wurru-ki and Koling wada-ngal for meeting rooms.
Ms Sturgess said Cafs commissioned Mr Brown's artwork to help in the change process. Looking closely, the colour scheme used in Healing Scars is based on Cafs' colours.
Meanwhile, visitors to Lal Lal Reservoir can know learn more about the area's significance to Wadawurrung traditional owners, including place connections as the earthly home of spirit creator Bunjil.
New interpretive signage, unveiled for Reconciliation Week, is a collaborations between reservoir manager Central Highlands Water and Barwon Water with traditional owners.
Wadawurrung artist Billy-Jay O'Toole designed the sign, Our Country; Our Waterways which shares First Nations history and information about how Lal Lal Reservoir supports communities and the environment today.
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