Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria Annual Report 2018-19

Getting kids involved in Indigenous celebrations at Cranbourne
Focus on Aboriginal Culture
The most successful daily activity at Royal
Botanic Gardens Victoria continues to be
the Aboriginal Heritage Walk (AHW). Led
by an Aboriginal cultural guide, this walk
focuses on developing an understanding
of and respect for the customs and
heritage of the local Kulin (Koolin) people.
It also explores traditional Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people’s uses of
certain native plants for food, medicine,
tools and ceremony. Attendances
increased from 6,897 participants in
2017–18 to 7,556 in 2018–19.
The AHW was one of only two Victorian
experiences included in Tourism
Australia’s international Discover
Aboriginal Experiences campaign. The
tour’s long-term success also led to Royal
Botanic Gardens Victoria being invited to
join a panel that discussed best practice
approaches to Aboriginal Tourism as part
of a Destinations Melbourne and Victorian
Tourism workshop.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria celebrated
NAIDOC Week’s theme, Because of her,
we can by focusing on the significant
contribution that Indigenous women have
made and continue to make to society. In
its sixth year, the Koolin-ik ba Kirrip-buluk
Family and Friends event at Cranbourne
Gardens, supported by local Indigenous
services within the municipalities of
Casey, Greater Dandenong, Cardinia
and surrounding councils, attracted over
3,000 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal
people from across the region. Koolin
Ngargee Family Celebration at Melbourne
Gardens attracted over 500 people where
attendance at both sites were significantly
higher than previous years.
Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria partnered
with Yirramboi First Nation Arts
Festival and Boonwurrung Traditional
Custodian Jaden Williams to run two
early-learning local cultural programs,
Boonwurrung Story Telling. Royal Botanic
Gardens Victoria’s First Nations staff
also developed two new cultural tours,
Bush Food Experience for adults and
Six Seasons of the Kulin (Koolin) Nation
for young people. Both programs were
developed in partnership with William
Angliss Institute as part of a Tourism
Guide course.
The Bush Food Experience program
was also developed in partnership with
Charcoal Lane Restaurant, a new social
enterprise. This involved First Nations
trainee chefs creating bush food tastings
for the tour. All programs received a very
positive response and the Bush Food
Experience is now being trialled as an
on-going new Royal Botanic Gardens
Victoria tour.
The Balee Koolin Bubup Bush Playgroup,
a program for Indigenous Early Years
children and their families—developed
in partnership with Casey Cardinia
Library Corporation and Boonwurrung
Elder Aunty Fay Stewart-Muir from the
Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for
Languages—has continued to deliver
a program that focused on traditional
culture and Boonwurrung language.
ROYAL BOTANIC GARDENS BOARD VICTORIA — ANNUAL REPORT 2018–19 45