Art Profile Statement – Mordialloc Site, Attenborough Park, Aspendale
This artwork honours the Mordialloc Site at Attenborough Park—an Indigenous meeting place of great cultural significance. The work explores the balanced duality of nature: night and day, sun and moon, existing in perpetual harmony.
At the heart of the work is the owl totem, a symbol of wisdom, watching over the people and guiding their path. Three carved sticks, each bearing ten fingerprints, represent three Elders and the owl itself—marking their presence and legacy in tangible form. The fingerprints are a testimony to identity, lineage, and the continuity of knowledge.
Flowing through the piece is a carved spiral, representing the Mordialloc Creek as it opens to the mouth of the bay. This movement reflects both natural flow and spiritual journey. Beneath the sun and moon lies the “egg of life”—also known as the burning egg of life—a powerful emblem of birth, energy, and renewal. Though it may hold different meanings, it ultimately symbolizes life itself.
This work invites reflection on connection to place, to Ancestors, and to the cycles that sustain all living things.
The Elders approved of these works.
Publication:
Links
https://mairineil.com/tag/attenborough-park/
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This Dancing Bear sculpture has been published in a guide book to Aboriginal cultural sites around the city of Melbourne.
See more about the sculpture here Spirit of Life and the Totem of Wisdom
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