The Aim of our Project
Our team was approached by a Loreto Sister volunteering for the Sisters of Mercy, Parramatta to meet the lack of knowledge regarding the Indigenous past of Mamre House. Mamre House is a non-for-profit organisation on a Heritage Listed Site in orchard Hills, Penrith, established in 1989, with the motto "where heritage embraces the future". This ‘place of promise’ caters for the local community and the disadvantaged through programs aimed at refugees, the disabled, and other groups. Now under the ownership of Catholic Care, we aim to aid the development of understanding and recognition regarding the Aboriginal story of this land.
|
Our Challenge
The Mamre House motto is "where heritage embraces the future" but the heritage known about Mamre House begins with European settlement and for centuries before that time Indigenous Australians occupied and used the land on which Mamre House stands. It is our aim to work alongside CatholicCare to integrate the Indigenous story into life at Mamre House so the community understand that their "heritage" includes the land's history before European settlement.
Our Solutions
Our solutions developed to include the making of this website in order to present our research, along with a brochure that would be accessible at Mamre House and table cards to be available at Mamre House Cafe. In addition, we planned to create an Acknowledgement of Country that is specific to the Gomerrigal Tongarra people who used to live on the land around Mamre House that would be free for public use. In addition, we worked with the children at Mamre House creche. Together we have developed an artwork based on an Aboriginal Dreamtime Story "Tiddalik the Frog".