Wadawurrung art featured in Barwon Heads Road upgrade

LOCAL First Nations artists Stephanie (Anie) Skinner and BJ O’Toole have added splashes of Wadawurrung cultural heritage to the Barwon Heads Road Upgrade.

The duo recently completed a series of Indigenous art designs at the Marshall railway line bridge and the 4km shared-use paths and retaining walls near Settlement Road.

More than 800 wall panels along the stretch were patterned to represent broken boomerang flanks, while acrylic screens atop the Marshall bridge depict a kunuwarra (black swan) flying in a movie reel-like effect as motorists drive past them.

The artists also coloured the retaining walls to reflect the region’s soil and lined it with fins designed so the word “Jerringot” appears as drivers pass in either direction.

The word means “water all around” or “place of billabongs” in Wadawurrung language, referencing the area’s wetlands as the habitat for species.

The etched tracks of native bird species including the kununwarra, brolga, ibis, pelican and egret will also be added to the walls in the coming days.

Skinner said the new features would be a welcome sight for drivers and pedestrians passing by.

“It’s wonderful to think as you cross over the bridge as a traveller, whether as a pedestrian or in a vehicle, you’re travelling alongside kunuwarra.

“Kunuwarra is a significant creature to Wadawurrung, and to walk beside her as you move through the landscape honours her story and the importance of the living things which live in and surround the Barwon.”

O’Toole said the artworks would help to share Indigenous stories of the land with the local community.

“Living locally and with Lake Connewarre wetlands just down the road, I see these birds [kunuwarra] regularly flying over me when I’m working on Country.

“It was a real honour to create their footprints and to share my story.”

The works were completed with the assistance of the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and Major Roads Projects Victoria..

The first stage of the Barwon Heads Road upgrade has now been completed, six months ahead of schedule.