Melbourne Water
"We Will Walk Country Together" - Gerard Black

For National Reconciliation Week, we're giving you an insight into the artwork recently developed for our organisation by Worimi artist, Gerard Black.

One of our organisational goals is “We will walk Country together”. The goal supports Traditional Owner self-determination and our commitment to reconciliation.

The artwork titled “We Will Walk Country Together” captures the essence of the partnership between Melbourne Water and the Traditional Owners who have been Caring for their Country for thousands of years and is a testament to our commitment to deliver against our obligations in regard to Traditional Owners.

Through this artwork and our commitment to caring for Melbourne and planning for the future, we want to demonstrate our strong partnership and dedication to working with Traditional Owners to ensure the sustainability of land and waterways for generations to come.

Speakers

Speaker 1 – S1 Gerard Black

Speaker 2 – S2 Gavan O’Neill

S1: My name's Gerard Black.

I'm a proud Worimi man from mid-north coast of New South Wales,

but was raised and grew up here on Wadawurrung country.

I've always been connected to water, no matter where it is or what it is.

So that was the first real, like the reaching out moment.

I was like, Oh, this will be amazing.

So having that initial discussion about We Will Walk Country Together and what that meant and what was in place to make that happen, so creating agreements with Traditional Owner groups and all the Traditional Owner groups within the the land that they work or are a part of, it was really important.

Because that really was the focus of how this artwork would come together.

S2: So Melbourne Water’s new Walking Country Together goal is all about supporting self-determination with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our in our workplace

and in the broader community.

So one of the key aspects of commissioning the work was to inspire in our workplace conversations about Aboriginal culture.

To create awareness of what is the meaning behind the behind the picture, behind the art.

And in by that way, creating a broader appreciation for Aboriginal culture.

And I think Gerard Black has created an artwork that is incredibly powerful in that way.

It is so detailed.

It has so many layers and there is so much meaning there that it will stimulate the right conversation.

So we really can create an amazing culturally safe culturally aware workplace.

S1: Throughout the whole artwork.

I wanted to capture the spirit of the land, the spirit of the water and spirit of creation and and how important and how much it means for us as First Nations people and Traditional Owners and that connection that we have and the love that we have for the water and the land.

So I wanted to make sure that every section, every little dot, every little line that runs through the waterways and the river and how it flows into the sea, and it's a full circle, like the water flows across the land, it's caught as it falls from the sky by the mountains and it flows down and then it goes back up and there's a constant cycle there.

And the importance of care within that system and within that cycle.

It's our job to make sure that we look after it and like we have for generations past.

All the five Traditional Owner groups are sitting on the land and sitting in the sections where they're from.

And inside each of those sections is Melbourne Water, sitting down with the Traditional Owners having conversations, talking about these important things about culture and preserving the land and looking after the water.

As each time Melbourne Water goes through one of these meetings, I’ve depicted them slowly being painted more by the Traditional Owners as a sign of respect, of gaining more knowledge and embracing that knowledge and coming on board with our way of life

and thinking.

I wanted to capture the beautiful night sky above the mountains.

Throughout the sky we’ve got all of our ancestors and I’ve placed emu footprints running through for the great Emu in the sky.

And we've got the creator spirit of the Kulin Nation of Bunjil flying across and flying over the land.

As we walk together, we'll learn together and we'll  go forward into the future together.

So I was really trying to achieve that with the walking footprints that ultimately lead from

either side of the artwork into the center, the center being where the the Yarra comes out and and meets the bay and we see all the different rivers and the waterways.

I've actually developed that off physical maps of Melbourne, the actual waterways that are a part of what Melbourne Water manages.

And I really wanted to depict how they flow across the land and how they travel through the land and out into the into the bay and how they're all interconnected with one another, the same way that all the Traditional Owner groups are interconnected with one another as well.

So the health of our animals and the health of our ocean and the health of our waterways is a real indication of how healthy our land is and how healthy our Country is and how healthy our bond and connection is to culture, and it's important to demonstrate that.

And I tried to within the ocean, showing the dolphins swimming through and all the spirit

and all the connection all through there and the spirits of the ocean.

My hope, when people see it, or see the artwork  that I've created for Melbourne Water

and that visual and the identity of it is to understand this achievement of Walking Country Together.

What it means to Walk Country Together, not just for Melbourne Water’s sake but for everyone.

What it might mean just for the everyday person, but maybe for other corporations and companies too to take the same sort of action and and go down that same road, and do these type of agreements  because they really do help and benefit Traditional Owner groups, and ultimately they help all of us, the land, the people and the future generations.

[Melbourne Water logo] with the words “We Will Walk Country Together” above the logo.