Image courtesy Sydney Living Museums
Celebrate the annual Gawura (Eora word for whale) migration season with a day of interpretive stories and dance inspired by a series of distinctive engravings, carved thousands of years ago into the landscape around Vaucluse House. The Gawura migration signifies revitalisation and birth of a new generation, a unique and ongoing story of Aboriginal connection to country. Sydney Living Museums’ annual Whale Festival invites visitors on a journey of interpretation to help understand this special story shared by many different Aboriginal communities.
The event starts at 10am on Vaucluse Estate Beach Paddock for the traditional Smoking Ceremony by Dwayne ‘Naja’ Bannon-Harrison and Welcome to Country by, Aunty Vivian Mason, both from Yuin Country to set the scene. As the tide of Sydney Harbour slowly begins to rise, experience the significance of the whale to Aboriginal culture through dance performances from Ngaran Ngaran Cultural Awareness and the Djaadjawan Dancers. Fred’s Bush Tucker will cook up local fish which provides a cultural connection to the harbour for the local Birrabirragal people, while inside the Vaucluse House kitchen, Sydney Living Museum’s own colonial gastronomer, Jacqui Newling will be cooking up some some traditional whaler’s ‘pot luck’ seafood stew referencing Sydney’s early whaling industry. Children can create their own scratch art inspired by the whale engravings or handle a piece of whale baleen. Visitors can also take a whale themed tour of the historic Vaucluse House.
When: Saturday 11 November 2017, 10am–2pm
Where: Vaucluse House, Wentworth Road, Vaucluse
Comments are closed.