We could tell you the facts about the Sandra Bardas Gallery – the opening times, the address, the fact that there is the most amazing collection of indigenous Australian artwork from both well known artists and up-coming students from Worowa Aboriginal College. We could say that it’s only five minutes out of Healesville, that the view to the nearby ranges is stunning, and that the people are amazingly friendly, knowledgable, and helpful. We could say it is named for Sandra Bardas OAM, who worked with the College founder in the establishment of Victoria’s only Aboriginal school.
We could write all these things, and we’d only be touching on the full story. It’s not just the fact that we’d have failed to describe the astonishing food experience we had, nor the amazing learning experience we had courtesy of staff and students from Worowa College. We’d have failed to convey the significance of this place.
We were welcomed on to the land that was part of the Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve, honouring the ancestors and all who have walked the land.
We were told the story of this place. It is Coranderrk. It is home to peoples of the Kulin nation, who sought a safe place to live when European colonisation threatened to end their civilisations. It was where governments herded groups of indigenous people from all over central Victoria. It was the home of Simon Wonga, who was the ngurunggaeta of his clan, a title which passed to his cousin William Barak. That huge face rendered in wobbly stripes on the side of the building on the old CUB site in the city – that’s William Barak. You need to come here, to be part of this place, to begin to understand why he’s on that building, why he’s so important.
Come here to see part of the story of the people of this land, to immerse yourself in the experience of the land, culture, art, and food, learn from the people of this land, and begin to understand.
Book a group and make a day of it.
