Ways of Seeing
This theme explores the evolving relationship between artists and land.
Experience Ways of Seeing
Welcome to ngurrak barring. This trail invites you to explore the deep cultural and creative history of goranwarrabil (the Dandenong Ranges) through five key themes: Ways of Seeing, Community, Activism, Resilience, and Country.
The Dandenong Ranges have always been a place of ever-changing beauty and inspiration. Light, colour, form and perspective have shaped the way that people have engaged with and experienced this unique area. For thousands of years Wurundjeri woiwurrung people lived on and travelled across this Country. They were part of this Country in the same way that Country was part of them. Wurundjeri woiwurrung people’s relationship with Country is linked to their Culture, and while connections to both were threatened by the invasion of European settlers and colonisation, this link has never been lost.
Around the time European arrivals were beginning to discover the beauty and wonder of the Dandenong Ranges through the early works of artists like Eugene von Guerard, who was active in the area in the late 1850s, Wurundjeri woiwurrung people were being driven off their Country and separated from family and Culture. From the European perspective, the area was an untouched, unexplored, new and exotic environment, while for Wurundjeri woiwurrung people, European activities were leading to the destruction of their carefully nurtured and well-maintained Country.
For many First Nations people and new settlers, seeing the landscape of the Dandenong Ranges inspired a strong desire to protect and preserve the natural environment. The relationship between ways of seeing the landscape, and how it has been interpreted, captured and preserved, has evolved over time. The Wurundjeri woiwurrung people describe the way the twilight radiates from the ridgeline at Kalorama as thurruk. A prominent feature in artworks created by the Australian Impressionists and later the Tonalists was the use of light and shadow to capture the changing hues and atmosphere of the Dandenong Ranges. Wurundjeri woiwurrung ngurungaeta (headman) William Barak used his artwork to reinforce his and his people’s connection to Country and Culture, while other creatives, like landscape designer Edna Walling, physically changed the landscape to create a home among the hills.
woiwurrung translations by Wurundjeri woman Brooke Wandin.
Ways of Seeing
Explore the artworks, visit the architectural node and immerse yourself in the story of Ways of Seeing. Experience works that speak to this place, created by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal storytellers, singers and poets.
Artwork
Parking Areas
Histories and Stories
Gathering Spaces
The phloem of the Mountain Ash is honoured in the Ways of Seeing Node; it is an expression of the rhythm of the forest and the movement of water through the layers of Country.
Events
Amenities
Amenities
Water Stations
Picnic Areas
Public Transport
Trail Conditions and Closures
Ways of Seeing trails connect Montrose, Kalorama and Mount Dandenong
Whenever you’re visiting our national parks and state forests, please always check changes to trail conditions, and weather warnings, before beginning your walk. Be sure to take enough water, and wear suitable clothing for the conditions.
Gathering Space
The Ways of Seeing Node is an expression of the rhythm of the forest and the movement of water through the layers of Country. Here, the phloem of the Mountain Ash is honoured as conduit of water from Biik-ut (Below Country) through Biik-dui (On Country) and into Wurru wurru Biik (Sky Country). Bank Biik (Water Country) is honoured as an ephemeral presence, reflecting Sky and Star Country when it pools in the boulder.
– designer statement.
The ngurrak barring Architectural Nodes are collaborative explorations of the themes of the walk through an Indigenous lens, crafted by First Peoples design studios, Djinjama and COLA Studio.
Interpretive Signage
Alison
Signage along this theme speaks to this theme…
Djirra Binak
Aunty Kim Wandin and Chris Joy (Murrup Biik) in collaboration with Collide Public Art, Djirra Binak (Reed Basket), 2024. Glass, steel, aluminium, Indigenous plants (Lomandra longifolia, Dianella, wallaby grass).
Murrup Biik (Chris and Aunty Kim) are an artistic partnership in public art working across cultural and environmental story-telling. Aunty Kim is a respected master-weaver and Chris is a respected community arts practitioner. Concept development occurs through a process of research, brainstorming and sketching between the two artists, which they believe is a perfect example of reconciliation and inter-racial relationship in a contemporary context.
“Djirra Binak is important to me because our work seeks connection to my Ancestors, in particular the strong women who have carried our people. We are honouring all Aboriginal women and our Torres Strait Islander neighbours through Djirra Binak. Coranderrk women, including my great grandmother, Jemima Wandin, were productive and self-determining, bringing traditional methods to new materials and selling their wares to tourists. Djirra Binak honours how Aboriginal women were assimilating themselves into a new world.
Our Identity is embedded in Country. Using plants creates a strong Aboriginal people here on Wurundjeri Country. Traditional art (weaving) should be considered as sculpture. Through Djirra Binak we want people to develop a relationship with Country and ultimately care for it. Having continuity of Cultural traditions and honouring everything the land holds is important, is what Country needs, reeds by their name, ‘Djirra’.”
Aunty Kim Wandin
The Reveal
The Reveal by Clarke, Kennedy, Bodycomb and Paten team (CKBP) is a series of installations of basalt boulders inlaid with intricate visual artworks, creating a subtle and harmonious narrative experience with the forest.
This piece unfurls along Channel Ten Track in Doongalla Forest to a central clearing where more pieces can be discovered and interacted with.