Aboriginal Dreamtime-themed artwork has been installed at Victoria Park in Echuca, alongside the new shared walking and cycling path.
With the Echuca-Moama Bridge Project situated on traditional Yorta Yorta Nation land, a partnership between the project team and the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation (YYNAC) resulted in the artwork being unveiled at a special ceremony last week.
Major Road Projects Victoria has worked closely with the YYNAC to manage work on and around culturally significant areas, including The Sandhill in Echuca, and the banks of the Murray and Campaspe rivers.
Artist and Yorta Yorta Elder Aunty Judy Atkinson’s artwork has been inspired by the Creation Story, a Yorta Yorta Dreamtime story that describes the formation of the Murray River
She has named the artwork Dhungala Dreaming — Dhungala being the name for the Murray River in Yorta Yorta language.
Dhungala Dreaming has been designed across 17 steel panels, installed beside a retaining wall in Victoria Park, Echuca. An interpretative sign has also been installed to explain the Dreamtime story that inspired Aunty Judy’s artwork.
Aunty Judy’s artwork is one of the project’s most significant legacies, providing a new attraction in Victoria Park, while increasing awareness of the region’s significant Aboriginal cultural heritage.
The $323.7 million Echuca-Moama Bridge Project is the largest transport infrastructure project in northern Victoria.
Together with Transport for NSW, MRPV is building a second Murray River crossing to connect the Murray Valley Hwy and Warren St in Echuca with the Cobb Hwy at Perricoota Rd in Moama.
The Echuca-Moama Bridge Project is jointly funded by the Australian, Victorian and NSW governments.
Transport Infrastructure Minister Jacinta Allan said since the earliest stages of planning, the Echuca-Moama Bridge Project had worked to preserve the rich connection of the Traditional Owners, the Yorta Yorta Nation, to the Murray and Campaspe rivers and surrounding lands.
“We’re delighted to celebrate the project’s connection to Country through the amazing artwork by Aunty Judy Atkinson; a new attraction for locals and tourists, and as a unique and continuing connection to Echuca-Moama’s proud Yorta Yorta Nation heritage.”
Major Road Projects Victoria project director Damian Van Dyke said it had been a privilege to work closely with Yorta Yorta representatives on the Echuca-Moama Bridge Project and it gave him a stronger sense of the region’s cultural significance and heritage.
“Aunty Judy Atkinson’s incredible artwork will be enjoyed for years to come and serves as a lasting reminder of our very successful collaboration with the Yorta Yorta Nation community on northern Victoria’s largest transport infrastructure project,” Mr Van Dyke said.
Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation chief executive officer Monica Morgan said the connection for Yorta Yorta people to the Murray River, through the Creation Story, was part of who they were as a people.
“For the broader Aboriginal community it is a centre point, it’s a place where we congregate, fish and where we all practise our culture,” Ms Morgan said.
“It is very important, given the extensive time Yorta Yorta people have been involved in the planning of the Echuca-Moama Bridge Project, that our young people, and particularly Yorta Yorta People and the broader Aboriginal community, have the Creation Story here as artwork in a public space.
“This artwork provides the broader community with the knowledge that Yorta Yorta People have been here from the beginning, and that this mural represents our Creation Story.
“The legacy of Judy’s artwork will stand the test of time over generations, and our Dreaming Story has been with us since time immemorial, since the creation of us on this earth, and it will be there for as long as people let it stand.”
Aunty Judy said it was a good feeling to have an enormous mural for the public to see, and also for the broader community to see and learn about our Indigenous culture and history, and the Dreamtime story of the Murray River.
“It is very important to tell the Creation Story because it’s an education on our culture and history and about the original custodians of this area,” she said.
“This artwork will pass on the knowledge for future generations.”