Koorie Heritage Trust (Central Melbourne)

We offer a range of programs and services including the only public collection in Victoria dedicated solely to Koorie art and culture comprising artefacts, pictures and photographs as well as an Oral History Program and a Reference Library, cross cultural awareness training and tours, exhibitions, a Koorie Family History Service and a retail shop.

Located at Federation Square.

Opening Hours:

Opening Hours

Cost:

Free Entry

Review:

Well worth a visit and has the added bonus of free admission. Downstairs are some constantly changing art exhibitions (which were very engaging, interesting and sometimes confronting) and upstairs are a range of displays of artefacts.

The last time we visited there was a picture titled "William Buckley At Bells Beach". The statement by the artist, Marlene Gilson, was:
William Buckley was an English convict transported to Australia in 1803 for receiving a roll of stolen cloth. After escaping, he was given up for dead. However, he lived with the Wathaurung (Wadawurrung) tribe for the next 32 years known as the 'Wild White Man'. The saying "you've got Buckley's or none" or simply "you've got Buckley's" and meaning "no chance" stems directly from this story. The midden on Bells Beach can still be seen today. John Batman employed Buckley as an interpreter.

There are also an oral history collection titled "Listen to your Elders". The "Listen to your Elders" exhibition features recordings from the Koorie Heritage Trust Oral History Collection that have been collected since the 1980s. These recordings share the experience and knowledge of Koorie Elders and explore the very significant role Elders hold in the Victorian Koorie Community.

This is statement of the artist, Wally Lowe, for the painting "George Watmore Speared by Blacks" - Let me say that Federation doesn't mean much to me at all. My work is basically politically motivated. As an Aboriginal person I can't see justification in the Government's ignorance that there were no stolen generation for one, and deny that fact there are any massacres of our ancestors. For these reasons and others including the setting up of missions, destroying our independence and culture. And also trying to breed us out, lowering our self-esteem and keeping us down where they think we belong. So saying that, seeing this cross on the side of the highway, it tore my guts out to read George Watmore speared by BLACKS 1842, and to think that this man was so honoured enough to have this marker and yet for the hundreds of Koories killed or massacred there's nothing to mark their graves or even acknowledge that it even took place.

Photos:

Location

Cnr Flinders Street and Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000 Map

✆ (03) 8622 2600

Email Enquiry

Web Links

→ www.koorieheritagetrust.com

→ Koorie Heritage Trust on Facebook