Parbin-ata Carolyn Briggs am

Elder in Residence, RMIT University

The Country has always been here.

We now have a marker in our landscape to remind all people (not just our ancestors and descendants) that we had a civilisation that used the resources of this land. This marker prompts us to think on the past and where we’re heading in the future. It’s a storyboard that reflects (traditionally) when you begin and when you end.

We see a lot of iconic symbols of British structures around Melbourne, but we never see anything that reminds us of our world. Wurrunggi Biik: Law of the Land is something iconic. It reminds me about our history: a time of chaos and the connection between the animal world and the human world, and the environment. It begins a narrative. The narrative of the First People’s land. Sometimes it can be an uncomfortable conversation; sometimes it’s a good conversation.

The Possum Skin Cloak is very much an important part of our civilisation and the changes we’ve faced. The healing properties come from the animal that it was taken from and presented to your body. It’s all connected to the animals, the plants, the seas. It’s part of the storyboard of our lives, and it goes with you on your journey. It grows with you from birth. It’s a calendar, a time capsule of your life, but it can also bring your family together, physically and emotionally. It’s your health and well-being, but it’s also your storyboard. It’s embedded into you. It’s individual, but it’s also collective.

The cloak can breathe. I would like the sculpture to remind people to slow down.

Young people need to reflect and challenge their own understanding of people and place and to question what was before the impact of colonisation. Who were the players in history? What did they look like? What did they do?

So let’s keep having conversations and scaffolding processes through the great minds of RMIT’s young people and their creativity. Let’s also keep taking leadership and ownership of the conversation. I’m privileged to be a part of this.