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National Reconciliation Week

May 27 to June 3

Coming together for National Reconciliation Week

In celebration of National Reconciliation Week, which takes place from May 27 to June 3, the Melbourne Cricket Club was honoured to welcome Wurundjeri artist Mandy Nicholson and her daughter Ky-ya to the MCG to create a unique artwork on the turf’s centre circle.

Responding to National Reconciliation Week’s 2020 theme ‘In this Together’, the striking design explores the different layers of Country and the coming together of cultures.For Mandy, National Reconciliation Week is an important opportunity to raise awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in Australia.“There is a rich culture. There is a rich language,” she said.“It’s about working together with non-Indigenous people, communities and organisations to help recognise that, and shine a light on the beautiful, dynamic Victorian culture.”Ky-ya Nicholson-Ward, Mandy’s daughter, said that the artwork reflects the area in which the MCG is situated – a historically significant place for the Kulin Nation.“In the middle there’s a circle, and that represents the MCG and coming together,” Ky-ya said.“The circles on the outside represent the six layers of Wurundjeri Country.“A really symbolic style of art that includes coming together is circles, because there’s no beginning and no end – just like Aboriginal people and Aboriginal culture,” Ky-ya said.

 

Mandy has been mentoring 17-year old Ky-ya in how to speak Woiwurrung and to paint. The artwork created at the MCG is their first collaboration on such a large scale and the first designed by both Mandy and Ky-ya together.The Djirri Djirri dancers featured at the end of the film include Mandy singing and Ky-ya dancing alongside her cousin Sue-Anne Hunter. Djirri Djirri are the only Wurundjeri women’s dance group and the only Traditional Custodians of Narrm (Melbourne) to sing in Woiwurrung.

National Reconciliation Week runs from May 27 to June 3 every year; these dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey — the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision of 1992.

 

A copy of the video can be found here:

https://youtu.be/YG6i24j1eJs

 

For more information on what activities are on click on the link below:

https://www.reconciliation.org.au/national-reconciliation-week/