Aboriginal Victoria

Birrarung Wilam Walk

Narrm (Melbourne) is the land of the people of the Kulin Nation and has been for the past 60,000 years. It is a place with a diverse Blak culture, one that is both ancient and contemporary.

Learn more about Indigenous Australia on this day-long itinerary.

10am Start at Federation Square on the banks of Birrarung (Yarra River). Explore art and artefacts, both ancient and contemporary, in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander galleries at NGV Australia. +ngv.melbourne

11.30am Walk the loop along the river along Southbank and across Sandridge Bridge, where you’ll find Gayip. This sculpture represents the Aboriginal period of Australian immigration history. Then make your way back to Birrarung Marr.

1pm Join the Birrarung Wilam Walk with the Koorie Heritage Trust. Discover the importance of the land as a gathering place for the people of the Kulin Nation. +koorieheritagetrust.com.au 2pm Grab lunch at Torres Strait Islander-owned Big Esso by Mabu Mabu. It's an all-day bar and kitchen located in Federation Square, on the land of the Wurundjeri People. +mabumabu.com.au

3pm Stroll past Melbourne Town Hall to see the Aboriginal flag flying high over the building.

3.30pm Head to Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum, where you can experience First Peoples' artworks, stories and languages. +museumsvictoria.com.au/

bunjilaka

Big Esso

Nocturnal Vision

Melbourne Museum’s new interactive exhibition, Tyama: A deeper sense of knowing, takes visitors on an after-dark journey into Indigenous storytelling.

It’s the Keerray Woorroong language verb that means ‘to know’. But Tyama (pronounced chah-muh) isn’t just about knowing with our minds; it’s about knowing with our whole bodies, and it is an insight into how the Indigenous people of Australia relate to belonging in the natural world.

Shining A Light

Tyama: A deeper sense of knowing is a digital multisensory experience that takes visitors on a journey through Victoria’s nocturnal world, from the night sky to caves, shallow water to the deep blue sea, to discover senses beyond human perception alongside the animals that use them. Using large-scale multimedia projections, objects from Museums Victoria’s collections, soundscapes and stunning imagery, the exhibition gives us a new insight into the natural world. All of this is

overlaid by First Peoples’ storytelling to explain the link between land, language and culture.

Your Own Adventure

Chase pheromones with moths. Use sound to see like a bat. Learn from fish to sense without touch. And swim with whales to discover the songlines that connect us all. “I hope people are inspired to realise that every rock, insect, plant, person has a place of Belonging in nature,” says Yoolongteeyt Dr Vicki Couzens, who was one of the collaborators on Tyama. “That being a part of Country is being a part of one great family and we all have a responsibility to care for our family, our Country.” By creating their own experience within this landscape combining ancient learnings and the latest technology, every visitor will take something different from Tyama. +museumsvictoria.com.au