Drum Theatre’s spectacular Wominjeka flags have been awarded in the 2024 National Awards for Local Government.
The Greater Dandenong Council project – which was guided by the Bunurong Land Council – took out the Indigenous Recognition category on 4 July.
First Nations artists Uncle Mark Brown, Kylie Armstrong, Adam Magennis and Lakeisha Clayton were each commissioned to create the four “stunning visual messages of welcome” at the entrance of The Drum.
Greater Dandenong community strengthening director Peta Gillies said the project was driven by a “commitment to fostering cultural inclusivity, bridging communities, and nurturing a profound understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and culture”.
“We’re very proud of our work towards strengthening and promoting indigenous culture and that the Wominjeka project has been recognised nationally through this award.”
The flags were launched in March to coincide with National Close the Gap Day and Harmony Day.
Armstrong, who descends from the Arrente people in the Central Desert, created the flag artwork Art and Sound which features clapsticks as a means of community coming together and connecting in a shared experience.
Modern-day theatre was an important accessible place to enable more people to share and experience Aboriginal culture from across Australia, Armstrong said.
Living on the Mornington Peninsula, she creates contemporary paintings based on her personal journal and connection to Nature.
Another of the Wominjeka project artists was Magennis – a Bunurong visual artist for 30-plus years – who created a design about the Barraemal (emu) ceremonial dance and Barraemal footprints across Bunurong Biik (Country).
It features the unique colours of Magennis’s self-created Kaptify art style.
The style dating back to the early 1990s is influenced by surrealist Salvador Dali, contemporary landscape art, geology and ecology as well as archaeology, anthropology, graffiti style, caricature illustration and cultural symbols.
Based in Shoreham, Magennis is director of Kaptify Art Services and Victorian Indigenous Business.
Wominjeka means ‘Welcome’ in languages of the Boonwurrung Bunurong peoples and Woi Wurrung Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation.
