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.
I have had a wonderful day today, thanks to this exciting new edition of Melbourne Dreaming, A Guide to Important Places of the Past and Present.
It is, as the name implies, a guide to the indigenous heritage of our city. First published in 1997 but now updated, the guide lists 36 places of interest, grouped by location so that exploring can be done in manageable chunks.
In the city, you can discover the Freedom Fighters execution site on the corner of Bowen and Franklin Streets where Maulboyheenner and Tunnerminnerwait became the first men executed in Victoria. They were not allowed to give evidence in their defence because they were deemed unable to take the Christian oath and although the jury recommended leniency on the grounds of general good character and the peculiar circumstances in which they are placed’ the government was determined to make an example of them and they…
I have had a wonderful day today, thanks to this exciting new edition of Melbourne Dreaming, A Guide to Important Places of the Past and Present.
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