Photo: https://www.edq.qld.gov.au/land-for-sale/montague-road/
Hope was ignited when West End developers were seen chatting to a prominent Aboriginal Traditional Owner and artist in a regional gallery a few weeks back.
Could they have been considering how to address the Aboriginal spiritual sovereignty of their newly purchased site beside the river at Kurilpa in South Brisbane? The shiny master plan which was released announcing their purchase seemed to miss any reference to the Traditional Custodians of this place. Instead, it was all about riverside apartments, a mile long beer hall and a walk of fame for former Olympians. This seems to lack vision given the cultural significance of Kurilpa.
At City Hall, in the Museum of Brisbane, there is a digital wall map created by Littlebot, informed by Aboriginal Traditional Custodian’s knowledge together with the meticulous research of historian Ray Kerkhove. A cursory look at this map leaves no doubt as to the Aboriginal cultural and spiritual significance of Kurilpa. It has been used as a gathering, vantage and crossing point over the Brisbane River for thousands of years. If you stand there today, you can see the gulls hunt for fish in the river’s swirling currents and watch people crossing on the Grey Street Bridge and the Merivale Rail bridge to the north bank.
The government’s Economic Development Queensland agency is steering the redevelopment of the Milk and Glass Factories at Kurilpa with their Provisional Priority Development Area Plan for the Montague Road Precinct. Their guidance to developers is about new housing apartments, entertainment venues and ensuring publicly accessible open space. There is nothing about the Aboriginal cultural significance of the place.
Let’s hope the developers seen chatting to the artist were talking about more than just a new piece of Aboriginal artwork, but a genuine Barangaroo moment for Brisbane. Barangaroo, an influential Aboriginal woman in Sydney at the time of colonisation and wife of Bennelong, has her story told on the harbour in Sydney. It gives a richness to the experience of standing on those shores. It prompts the question, who are Brisbane’s Bennelong and Barangaroo? Will Brisbane residents and our visitors who come for the Olympics want to know? It is for Traditional Custodian families to share their stories and the names of their ancestors.
Let’s hope that Brisbane’s developers are asking and are taking note of the gracious and generous sentiments from the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and that spiritual sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood at Kurilpa in South Brisbane. Only time will tell.
The West End Sibyl
References:
The Beer Mile
https://www.stockwell.com.au/articles/milk-factory
Economic Development Queensland – Montague Road Precinct Planning
Museum of Brisbane Perspectives of Brisbane exhibit – digital map by Littlebot, Ray Kerkove informed by Traditional Custodians
https://www.littlebot.com.au/projects/perspectives-of-brisbane-exhibition
Barangaroo
https://www.barangaroo.com/past-present-future/history-of-barangaroo/aboriginal-culture#:~:text=Barangaroo%20honours%20Australia’s%20shared%20history,significance%20of%20Barangaroo%20the%20place.
Uluru Statement from the Heart
