Land returned for Djaara hub

TRADITIONAL Owners have officially reclaimed a piece of land in Golden Square, earmarked for a new cultural hub.

Victorian attorney-general, Jaclyn Symes, handed over the land title for the former Golden Square High School to Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporation at a ceremony last Friday.

The corporation, also known as Djaara, will be responsible for the former State-owned land on behalf of the Dja Dja Wurrung people.

CEO of Djaara, Rodney Carter, said the almost $11.3 million hub would build on years of hard work and achievements by the organisation.

“Getting the land title is just one piece in the ingredients you need to now build, and for us the vision and the dream is to create the corporate and community centre to act as a cultural hub,” he said.

“It’s capable of housing not just the Dja Dja Wurrung group but an incubator that professionals or others can come to and be hosted and hot desked with Dja Dja Wurrung people.

“We have laboratories for natural history, earth sciences, cultural heritage, and a very large theatrette for lectures, presentations and talks.

“It has all of those functional things, but what you’ll see is it’s being really sensitive to Country and culture with the textures and the simple elements that you build into construction.”

Sitting between two creeks, the area would’ve been used as a camping site by Dja Dja Wurrung people thousands of years ago.

Ms Symes said the title handover was a step in the right direction for land justice, following a Recognition and Settlement Agreement made in 2013 recognising Dja Dja Wurrung people as central Victoria’s Traditional Owners.

“This was a recommendation in 2013 so to get here today is a significant milestone and a long time coming, but the future is going to be very bright,” she said.

The cultural hub is set to be completed in early 2023.