The Message Stick vehicle on the Melbourne Museum Plaza.
Image: Rodney Start
Source: Museum Victoria
Since 1996 the Message Stick Vehicle has travelled around 150,000 km across Australia as a visible symbol of Reconciliation.
On Monday 4 July it made its first official Victorian appearance on Melbourne Museum’s Plaza, as part of NAIDOC Week celebrations.
To launch the NAIDOC Week program at Bunjilaka, the vehicle was hand-printed by Boonerwrung Traditional Owner Carolyn Briggs, along with Traditional Owners from among the Museum’s staff – Caroline Martin (Boonerwrung) and Jemima Gardiner (Wurundjeri) – and Museum Victoria CEO, Patrick Greene.
The vehicle has visited cities, towns and many remote Aboriginal communities, collecting art on its body and re-enacting a tradition more than 50,000 years old. Message sticks were carried by young warriors as a means of communication between different language groups.
A mobile art gallery, the vehicle carries paintings and hand-prints from artists, elders and supporters. These include Djalu Gurriwiwi (Custodian Yidaki or Didgeridoo, NT); former PM of Australia, Gough Whitlam; tennis great Evonne Goolagong Cawley; actor Hugo Weaving and international statesman Nelson Mandela.
Bunjilaka’s NAIDOC Week program was launched at a breakfast reception to welcome the vehicle, which also included a flag-raising ceremony and performances by local Aboriginal dance group Koori Youth Will Shake Spears.
The program continues this week in Bunjilaka, and includes the launch of a new exhibition by Aboriginal artist Craig Charles, weaving demonstrations and children’s activities to coincide with the school holidays.
A documentary about the Message Stick’s travels will be broadcast on ABC TV on Friday 29 July and Fri 5 August.