First Peoples of Victoria and the Melbourne City Council are backing a proposal of the first First Nation’s precinct in Melbourne. The plans detail a new symbol of the reconciliation of a space in Melbourne that could house the countries first Black Parliament.
According to the copy obtained by The Age, the proposal states “It would be financially sustainable after an initial capital and land outlay, and this investment would deliver strong economic and social benefits to the Indigenous community as well as Victoria and Australia”. Currently, the location of this future space is still up in there air, but the documents detail that potential places to keep in mind are Enterprize Park on the Birrarung, Queen Victoria Market and Victoria Harbour Pier.
Released in the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria’s annual report, N’arweet Dr. Carolyn Briggs Elder in Residence at RMIT University said in power,
We have to invest in what we can do now and leave the legacy of a solid foundation for the future…
Tabling in state parliament on Thursday that a cultural centre in the heart of Melbourne is vital. The Victorian Traditional Owner Land Justice Group has worked for over a decade on the development of an Indigenous Cultural Centre located in Melbourne’s CBD and now the plans are coming into fruition.
My dream is for my legacy to be an Assembly building. It’ll be for theatre, it will be for international Indigenous Peoples around the world to come to, it will be somewhere the Elders will have their place, it’ll be central to Melbourne, it’ll be our own parliament
Artist: Eleanor Fenton, Central Melbourne: Representations, Practices and Creative Research research project.
All details on the future of Melbourne’s First Nation’s Precinct is available to view publically in the First People’s Victoria Annual Report
Written by Catalyst Editor, Jasper Riley
Cover Image was taken by Kelly Lim