Two Aboriginal places heritage listed during Reconciliation Week 2021

Coinciding with Reconciliation Week 2021, The ACT Heritage Council has registered the Ginninderra Creek Corroboree Ground Cultural Gathering Place, Belconnen and provisionally registered Yeddung Dhaura in Forde.

“These places are important in the collective memory of Aboriginal people, especially the association with corroborees and the connection with the cultural landscape,” Chairperson of the Council, Dr Kenneth Heffernan said.

“Corroborees were special community events for Aboriginal people and the memory of the Ginninderra Creek Corroboree Ground has endured in collective conscious.

“The ACT’s Aboriginal heritage stretches back at least 25,000 years and the Council is pleased to help increase protection and recognition for Aboriginal places, and to have these decisions coincide with Reconciliation Week 2021.”

The Council will work closely with Representative Aboriginal Organisations, members of the Ngun(n)awal community, and the Ginninderry Aboriginal Advisory Group to determine an alternative name for the heritage listing for the Corroboree Ground in the language of the Traditional Custodians of the ACT.

For Ngunnawal Traditional Custodian Caroline Hughes, the Council member representing the Aboriginal community, the naming of heritage places is an important recognition of culture and reconciliation.

“Our language is the key to all our relationships and how we interact with each other. It is the salient ingredient to spirituality, lore, law and retaining our cultural identity and connection to Country,” Ms Hughes said.

“For the Aboriginal community, the registration of these two places is a step closer to acknowledging that this land is ancient, and its features, waterways and cultural landmarks have always had names.”

Yeddung Dhaura is an Aboriginal campsite conserved in open space in Forde, and is testament to traditional Aboriginal lifeways, as well as the enduring cultural connection to the land of present-day Aboriginal people, including the Ngun(n)awal community.

‘Yeddung Dhaura’ translates to mean ‘Good Ground’. The words have common roots in the related languages used by groups who interacted in this region, including the Ngun(n)awal, Ngambri, Walgalu, and Ngarigu people.

The Council is accepting public consultation comments on the provisional registration of Yeddung Dhaura until 29 June 2021. You can view the heritage assessment on the ACT Government’s YourSay website.

You can find more information on other decisions made by the Council on 27 May 2021 by visiting the ACT Government’s Heritage website.

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