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Reconciliation

This page outlines our ongoing commitment to reconciliation within our organisation and community, and how you can get involved. Access our Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), read about our key achievements under this plan, learn about local Aboriginal history and sites of Aboriginal cultural significance. 

Reconciliation Action Plan

Since 2013, we’ve embarked on a reconciliation journey with the development of a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and a RAP Continuous Improvement Team (CIT).

Our current 2017 – 2021 Stretch RAP outlines our targets and benchmarking so we can effectively progress actions, such as training and employment of First Nations people.

Read our Stretch RAP summary or see the full Stretch RAP 2017 – 2021

We would like to thank the Elders, members of the community, and staff from across the organisation who provide valuable input to our Stretch Reconciliation  Action Plan (RAP) Continuous Improvement Team (CIT). 

We would also like to acknowledge the artwork by Jason Hirst that features on the print version of our current RAP as well as featured components of signage made for the Bidi Katitjiny Aboriginal Women’s Trail Six seasons trail launch.  

We appreciate the support of Reconciliation Australia in developing our first Stretch RAP, and for allowing us an extension to June 2022 to achieve the deliverables outlined in our Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan, due to the impact of COVID-19. A renewed Stretch RAP will be developed in consultation with Reconciliation Australia and our community in the second half of 2022.

Iesha Wyatt

Stretch RAP Artwork commission

In 2022, the City commissioned Artist Iesha Wyatt, a local resident,  to create an artwork for the Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan to acknowledge key Indigenous sites and to connect communities.

Iesha Wyatt is an emerging Yued Noongar artist working in both painting and digital mediums, with a background in fine art and graphic design.

Iesha started with a map, marking points of significance, roads and the river, but it was only when she removed the hard borders of the map that the piece came to life. She found that the work began to grow around the idea that the roads currently showing on our maps actually follow traditional paths, laid out for thousands of years. These paths not only connect important places but they pull together the past with the present and form a link that will continue long into the future.

The name of the artwork PavingThe Way honours those who go ahead, making it easy for others to follow and references the tracks of the Wagyl as it forms the bends of the river. Most importantly, it explicitly acknowledges that bitumen and asphalt have been laid upon paths made by human feet.

Iesha often chooses to work with digital tools to make her art. She finds the nature of the technology, which allows her to constantly update and change her images, colours and layers, mimics the way maps are always changing and being brought into the present.  While a digital image can be constantly changed and manipulated, the evolutionary process that created it remains forever in the process recording data which documents every decision made. giving the work great depth and meaning.

Artwork: Paving The Way (2022) by Iesha Wyatt
 

Key Achievements

We have been taking steps to engage more effectively with First Nations residents and community organisations, and to demonstrate respect for Bibbulmun/Whadjuk culture.

We have been able to achieve many exciting feats through our Stretch RAP, including hosting large events, commissioning First Nation artists, engaging with local First Nations working groups, dual naming significant sites, incorporating First Nation design elements into public open spaces, and more. Some recent examples are:

Sites of Aboriginal Cultural Significance

We are fortunate to have so many significant sites in our City which boast a rich history of the Whadjuk/Noongar culture. These sites continue to have significance today , and it is the role of our organisation and community to ensure that these sites are appropriately recognised for their historical, cultural and contemporary value.

Download our Sites of Aboriginal Cultural Significance in the City of Melville document. 

If you would like to know more about the process undertaken to identify these sites please contact us.

Djidi Djidi Aboriginal Women's Corporation

Djidi Djidi Aboriginal Womens Corporation is a local group made up of Aboriginal women living in and around the Melville, Cockburn, Kwinana and Fremantle areas. The corporation is currently assisting in the continued enhancement of the Bidi Kaditjiny Trail at Piney Lakes.

Check back soon for relevant contact details if you are interested to get involved.

Noongar Six Seasons calendar of activities and events

As part of our ongoing commitment to celebrating the history, culture and achievements of First Nations peoples, during NAIDOC Week 2021 we launched our Noongar Six Seasons calendar of activities and events.

View further details regarding the significance of each of the seasons provided by Edith Cowan University, and check out the events tab below for upcoming events and activities near you.

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