A traditional Darug welcome and smoking ceremony formed part of the opening on Saturday of an Aboriginal heritage garden within the Nurragingy Reserve at Doonside.
The Aboriginal Heritage Garden includes a yarning circle, decorated pathways, murals, native plantings as well as artworks of tree and sandstone carvings by local father and son artists, Danny and Jamie Eastwood.
Blacktown City Mayor Tony Bleasdale OAM said the garden is of major importance to the indigenous heritage of Western Sydney.
“More than 8,000 people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage call our City home.
“I am proud that Blacktown City has the highest urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in New South Wales.”
“We are paying tribute to our important indigenous history and heritage through this garden,” Mayor Bleasdale said.
The name “Nurragingy” commemorates one of the two men of the Darug tribe who received the first Aboriginal land grant from Governor Macquarie in 1819. The other title holder was Colebee, whose name has been given to the Centre within the Reserve.
The opening of the aboriginal Heritage Garden by Mayor Bleasdale also included a performance by the Wagana Dancers.
The project has been driven by Blacktown City Council’s Aboriginal Advisory Committee and strongly supported by Council.
