Wathaurong committed to Narana purchase

THE Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative will take on the management of the Narana Cultural Centre, bringing it back into the Aboriginal community’s hands.

The co-op is in the final stages of taking over the centre from the Uniting Church of Australia, which has overseen it for the past 28 years.

For the past six months, Wathaurong has been in good faith negotiations with the Uniting Church about a commercial arrangement to purchase the property and take on ownership and operations.

Wathaurong was made of aware of a social media post on Tuesday last week announcing the sudden closure of the centre with little detail.

The next day, Narana social media channels shared a statement from the Uniting Church of Australia to clarify the coming changes.

Wathaurong stated it was “disappointing” the exciting announcement had been pre-empted with negative social media commentary and confusion from community about Narana’s fuiture.

“This is an opportunity for us as an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation to now be able to lead a cultural healing and education space in a location that has become widely known as a place for people to learn about Aboriginal culture,” Wathaurong chief executive officer Simon Flagg said.

“This space will now directly benefit our Aboriginal community with the ownership and management being with Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative.”

Wathaurong remain committed to working through the purchase of the property and said they looked forward to re-opening the space in the coming months.