General News
22 November, 2023
“It’s not token. It’s not ticking a box.”
A NEW mural at Terang College will celebrate the region’s indigenous history. Kirrae Whurrung artists Dr Vicki Couzens and Lisa Couzens worked with students last week to paint a new mural at the college’s main entrance. The students have had the...
A NEW mural at Terang College will celebrate the region’s indigenous history.
Kirrae Whurrung artists Dr Vicki Couzens and Lisa Couzens worked with students last week to paint a new mural at the college’s main entrance.
The students have had the opportunity to co-design and paint the mural which features some of the region’s most iconic fauna, flora, townships and geographic landmarks.
“It’s sort of like a map of the region, with an aerial view as a lot of indigenous stories and depictions are,” Dr Couzens said.
The decision to create the mural in a collaboration between Kirrae Whurrung artists and students was one built on mutual respect and understanding.
For Dr Couzens, her family history in the region dates back to the beginning of time on landy deeply honoured and respected among the region’s first people.
For the non-indigenous students, the mural was an opportunity to learn more about and celebrate the region’s rich indigenous history before colonisation.
“Terang and the lakes were places where our people camped pre-colonisation, Dr Couzens said.
“We still tell stories from the days when they were setting up a protector who was camped at Lake Terang and was trying to bring some of our people in to safety because it was no longer safe as Europeans were forcibly taking up the land.
“We ended up with Framlingham Reserve as the final place, but Terang was one of those places for us.
“Much like Lake Keilambete where Hissing Swan (Kaarwin Kuunawarn, head of the Gunaward Gundidj clan) of Lake Connewarren near Mortlake called a meeting of everyone – with around 1000
attending Lake Keilambete to talk about what to do as we knew the Europeans were coming, the sealers and whalers had been on the coast but we knew people were coming and taking up land.”
The mural has been more than two years in the works after Dr Couzens was approached by long-time friend and Terang artist Margaret Moloney, but had faced delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, heavy rainfall last year and conflicts in scheduling for Dr Couzens, who is vice chancellor indigenous research fellow at RMIT.
During this time workshops, storytelling and resources were available for Terang College students to use in the classroom which would form the foundations of what the mural depicts.
“We looked at the names of places, language words and got the kids all drawing so the mural was inspired by their designs,” Dr Couzens said.
“Before this year ends we really wanted to get it done because we really enjoy the engagement with the kids and the community, and because it’s our country we are really happy to do that.
“We were so happy and excited to be involved, and excited to finally get it done.”
At a time when division among the nation feels deepened following the national referendum and associated narratives pushed people apart, Dr Couzens said action such as the mural built on mutual collaboration was “deeply appreciated”.
“One of the reasons you want to come and do it is the purposeful intent from the school and community to raise, centre and honour first peoples position as first peoples,” she said.
“Our family has a connection and is part of a country, but we’re getting a lot of opportunities to collaborate with community in bringing our story to the forefront, in its rightful place.”
Dr Couzens said such collaborations were not acts of activism but instances of restorative action.
“Reconciliation is over, it’s about action now,” she said.
“The intent, the goodwill and the heart are here. It’s not token. It’s not ticking a box.
“All of it holds deep meaning here in us sharing and giving, a reciprocal thing with the school and the community.”
Dr Couzens praised the students for their artistic talents, and enthusiasm to learn more about the lands they call home.
“These kids are so talented, they’ve been great and very interested,” she said.
“They’ve been very engaged, there is no ho-hum.
“The wall is the perfect space, and the mural stands out against the backdrop of the old redbrick.”
