waterway
“The eels continue to swim through the stormwater pipes of the University. They rear their heads up in some of the ponds and stormwater grates that exist on the campus. For me, the metaphor of the eel is quite powerful. It is a story that connects over time and place because it talks to the notion of resilience – resilience of Indigenous people, and their commitment to connecting and maintaining relationships to country.
Not only do the eels transmogrify when they move from salt water to fresh water and back again, their migration patterns also connect in a global sense. This eel story connects to a water story which cuts across Country, so, for instance, here we are on Kulin Nation Country, but there are strong stories around eel migration down Portland way, on Gunditjmara Country. Water stories and water bodies connect through time and Country. So that’s a powerful metaphor. But then when we start to broaden that out, we start to see that the migration of the eel connects to New Zealand, across to South America, through Asia and Oceania and back to Australia again.”
— Jefa Greenaway, Lecturer in Architecture and Knowledge Broker, Indigenous Curriculum Development, University of Melbourne
The Waterway is defined by reflection, calm and the cultural practices associated with eels, such as weaving. As a celebration of the culmination of weaving practices embedded throughout the fit-out and the cultural practices that connect Indigenous nations, the key installation is a collection of woven eel and fish traps, suspended in alignment with the creek that once ran below.
Photos: Tom Blachford
The space contains the following areas: the Elders’ Lounge, staff offices and desks, meeting rooms, and print room.
The Elders’ Lounge is a place for knowledge exchange. The traps – which are located in the Elders’ Lounge – were procured by Agency Projects and represent a diversity of Indigenous aquacultural knowledges and practices relating to their Countries and communities across Australia and Aotearoa.
Other key details in the space include the use of kangaroo leather on banquet seating and a second crocodile lamp supplied by Manapan and designed by Suzie Stanford. The majority of furniture is Australian-made and/or supplied/procured through an Indigenous supplier.
Watch the story of the making of an eel trap by Aunty Sandra Aitken below.
The story of making an eel trap
EEL AND FISH TRAP ARTISTS AND DETAILS
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Languages: Burarra, Yan-nhaŋu
Community: Maningrida
Clan: GamarlBonnie Burangarra belongs to the Burarra/Walamangu people and is an internationally celebrated fibre artist. Bonnie grew up, and continues to live, on her ancestral country at Yilan in the Cape Stewart area. She is a Traditional Owner of Yilan as well as Yurrwi (Milingimbi Island).
Bonnie and her late husband Jacky Maranbarra are two of few remaining master an-guchechiya (fish trap) makers. Examples of their work are held in many public and private collections. Bonnie also makes beautiful gulukurr (bathi or dilly bags) and bamagral nanmarra (conical mat with functions including wrapping or covering babies, womens skirt or covering for young girls during coming of age ceremony).
Bonnie has the wisdom, strength and gentleness of a women that has spent her entire life living on her homeland with her ancestral culture engrained in her everyday life. Her artwork has been exhibited extensively and Bonnie is represented by both Maningrida Arts and Milingimbi Art and Culture.
Artwork:
An-gujechiya (fish trap)
Jungle vine (malaisia scandens) and kurrajong (brachychiton diversifolius)
127 x 27 x 28 cm -
Ninney Murray is a Jirrbal/ Girramay woman. She is based in the Jumbun Aboriginal community of the Murray Upper area, north-west of Cardwell, Queensland.
A multidisciplinary artist with a broad portfolio, she was taught by her Aunty and frequently weaves jawun, burrajingal, gundala and mindi baskets. She is one of few artists to still construct wungarr, a traditional lawyer cane trap used to trap freshwater eels in a creek. Ninney is also an accomplished painter and ceramicist.
Ninney shares her rich cultural knowledge through the workshops in which she facilitates. Her paintings capture the story of her elders. Her bagu sculptures are full of personality and life. Ninney’s art is a visual expression of her connection to home and family. Multiple private and institutional collections, including the Queensland Art Gallery, have acquired Ninney’s work.
Ninney’s work is supported by the Girringun Aboriginal Art Centre which is located in Cardwell, Far North Queensland. The centre represents artists from nine Traditional Owner groups, the Nywaigi, Gugu Badhun, Warrgamay, Warungnu, Bandjin, Girramay, Gulgnay, Jirrbal and Djiru people.
Artwork:
Wungarr (eel trap)
Lawyer cane (traditional materials)
184 x 18 x 18 cm -
Languages: Barrada, Yan-nhangu, Yolngu
Community: Yilan
Clan: MäḻarraSabrina Roy is the daughter of senior artists Lily Roy and Roy Rewa. She continues in the footsteps of her parents as a highly skilled harvester of bush materials and maker of ceremonial and everyday objects. She learnt to make An-gujechiya from her mother and mother’s sisters, master weavers Bonny Burangarra, Freda Wyartja and Lily Roy, growing up at their homeland of Yilan.
An-gujechiya belongs to the country Jinawunya, and the three clans that share it – Gelama A-gorndiya, Milin.gawa and Garrpam clans. Sabrina and her brother David Roy are märi-waṯaŋu for An-gujechiya. David tells the story: “The An-gujechiya story is set on a long stretch of beach on An-barra country, just west of the Blythe River. An-gujawiya, Baler shell, went from the beach into the ocean and found a place of soft sand where it buried itself. Underneath the cover of sand An-gujawiya changed itself into An-gujechiya, fish trap. On a very low tide you can see the sacred sand hill where An-gujechiya still lives today. An-gujechiya sleeps during the day but comes out at night. Travellers are warned to never swim or boat around this spot because an-gujechiya may become angry. The fish trap, its story and associated songline belong to the Jowunga (Dhuwa) moiety.”
Sabrina works closely with her sisters, to make An-gujechiya (fish traps), bathi (dilly bags and baskets) and feather mats. Sabrina often leads harvesting trips deciding when it is best to visit different areas of the island and when those areas need to rest. Sabrina also works closely with emerging artist sharing her skills and rich knowledge of materials.
Sabrina is one of the few remaining speakers of the Yan-nhangu language and features alongside her family in the highly acclaimed documentary film Big Boss: The Last Leader of the Crocodile Islands.
Artwork:
An-gujechiya (donical fish trap)
Gunga (pandanus), balgurr (karrajong) and natural dyes
130 x 41 x 41 cm -
Language: Burarra (Martay)
Community: Maningrida
Clan: GamarMaureen Ali learned to weave under the guidance of her sister Bonny Burarn.garra, a highly skilled fibre artist who has exhibited in commercial galleries around Australia since the 1990s. She also learned from her watching her mother, leading fibre artist Lorna Jin-gubarrangunyja, who was a Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) winner in 2013.
Ali has been practicing since 2006. She is Burarra, one of the east-side language groups who specialise in the customary conical dilly bags, woven string bags and mats. She is alo well known for her beautiful An-gujechiya (fish trap). This sculptural form is a conical fish trap, designed so fish swim into the opening and the internal fibre, flexible when wet, creates a barrier making it difficult for fish to swim out.
She is particularly renowned for the use of varied natural materials including sand palm (livistonia humilis) and mirlarl, (malaisia scandens), a type of vine that grows in the coastal jungle. The use of this vine to manufacture fish traps, barriers and large strong dillybags is unique to this region.
Works in fibre from the Maningrida region are widely recognised as some of the finest in Australia. Artists confidently push the boundaries of fibre craft and cultural expression, adapting traditional techniques and forms to produce strikingly inventive and aesthetically exquisite artworks.
Artwork
An-gujechiya (fish trap)
Jungle vine (malaisia scandens) and kurrajong (brachychiton diversifolius)
198 x 27 x 28 cm -
Skin name: Bilinydjan
Language: Mandhalpuy
Dreaming: Dhuwa
Clan: MandhalpuyMary Dhapalany is an artist and highly skilled weaver who lives and works in Ramingining (NT) and is part of Bula’Bula Arts in Northeast Arnhem Land.
Dhapalany has been making fibre objects for utilitarian and ritual use since her early teenage years. Her work includes mindirr (dilly bags), pandanus mats, gay’wu (bush string bags) and fish traps.
Dhapalany’s intricate fibre art creations have been displayed at exhibitions internationally. She has been selected as a finalist on a number of occasions for her works. She is very proud to be David Gulpilil’s twin sister.
Bula’bula Art Centre is internationally recognised for its fibre art, bark painting and sculptures and has been supporting more than 150 artists from the Ramingining community and surrounding outstations for over 30 years. The centre provides ongoing education that preserves Yolŋgu culture and traditions.
Artwork 1:
Dhawurr/batjbarra (fish trap)
Gunga (pandanus spiralis) and natural dyes
59 cm x 21 x 21 cmArtwork 2:
Dhawurr/batjbarra (fish trap)
Gunga (pandanus spiralis) and natural dyes
68 cm x 54 x 54 cm -
Sandra Aitken was born in Heywood, Victoria in 1954 and is of Gunditjmara descent. Sandra is a weaver, painter, screen printer and tapestry worker residing in Victoria. Sandra was taught weaving by her aunt, Connie Hart, in the early 1990s. She has passed her weaving skills on to her daughters and nieces.
Sandra has extensive experience teaching and demonstrating her traditions and has worked with many audiences ranging from small children to adult classes. Sandra uses a diverse range of materials in her practice, including carex tereticaulis grass (known as poonyart or spear grass), string, wool, copper wire, whipper snipper cord, hay bale twine and other sorts of twines.
She lives and works in Western Victoria.
Sandra Aitken explains: “The Indigenous art of basket weaving was passed down to me through generations of my ancestors. I was taught and shown by my father’s sister Auntie Connie Hart, who was a highly-regarded Gunditjmara basket weaver and a Community Elder.”
Artwork:
Eel trap
Carex tereticaulis grass -
Melissa is a Gunditjmara woman who was born in Portland, Victoria in 1978.
She learnt basket weaving by watching her Great Aunt, Connine Hart; who let her help her spilt the grass and sometimes do a stitch or two. She was also taught by her mother (Sandra Aitken). Melissa only works on her basket weaving with her mother who she helps when she goes to do classes. Melissa weaves with the local material, carex tereticaulis (known as poonyart or spear grass), hay bale twine and raffia.
Artwork:
Eel trap
Jute hay bale twine