With a theme of Building Now to Next, Greater Dandenong’s National Reconciliation Week events were launched at Harmony Square on Tuesday 27 May.
Mayor Jim Memeti, Auntie Elaine Taylor and Victoria Police Aboriginal liaison officer Stewart Taylor led the ceremony, which included a joint-flag raising, Welcome to Country and traditional ceremonial smoking ceremony and dance.
Work also began on a community-based artwork led by artist N’Dene Riley at Dandenong Library, in which anyone could pick up a brush and leave their mark on the shared canvas.
The public can join in the communal canvas at Springvale Library tonight (Wednesday 28 May, from 6.30pm) and Dandenong Library on Friday 30 May, 3.30pm.
The artwork will be later displayed at Dandenong Library.
Other events in the week include the open-stage event Our Beat featuring performers Mr Congo and Ganga Giri at Walker Street Gallery on Thursday, 6pm and Na Djinang Circus’s acrobatic work Of the Land on Which We Meet at Drum Theatre on Saturday 31 May, 6pm.
The week concludes a a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony followed by storytime, art workshops and a Ganga Giri Yidaki performance at Springvale Community Hub on Tuesday 3 June, 9.30am.
Details: greaterdandenong.vic.gov.au/reconciliation-week-25#:~:text=The%20National%20Reconciliation%20Week%20(NRW,as%20past%20lessons%20guide%20us.
