General News
2 April, 2026
Taking steps to share history
THE Volcanic Education Centre at the base of Mount Leura saw a full house last Tuesday for a special session on the history of Camperdown’s First Nations people.
The Friends of Mount Leura committee hosted the Djargurd Wurrung: Footprints and Remembrance session in the evening, seeing 30 people attend the event while another 12 people watched the livestream of the event.
Camperdown and District Historical Society vice president Bob Lambell spoke about a number of well-known Indigenous residents of the area, including Wombeech Puyuun and King Charlie.
Friends of Mount Leura committee member Graham Arkinstall said it was a fabulous evening of information.
“It was extremely interesting and valuable to know it was recorded and livestreamed for the night,” he said.
“It will be recorded for future educational use and it will have terrific potential for community and school education.
“Bob was able to highlight and detail information about some people who had been written about.
“What we hope people take away is the ability to share that information with other people and therefore increase awareness across the broader community of our First Nations people who first frequented our part of the world.
“It was good it was done, and great it was recorded for schools, the heritage centre and the broader community.”
Mr Arkinstall extended his gratitude to everyone who attended the night and made it possible, including fellow Friends of Mount Leura group member Angela Priess who oversaw the audio and visual work required for the livestream and recording.
“Thank you to Brett Clarke who did a Welcome to Country because he has descendants who were Djargurd people, so he was able to do that on Country,” he said.
“Thanks to the First Nations people in attendance for coming and listening – apart from Brett, I don’t think they were Djargurd Wurrung, but they certainly had an interest in learning more.”
Mr Arkinstall said the committee hoped to have the video online within the coming weeks.
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