{"id":34517,"date":"2025-05-13T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-12T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/themooraboolnews\/?p=34517"},"modified":"2025-05-08T12:30:15","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T02:30:15","slug":"explore-wadawurrung-history-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/themooraboolnews\/living\/explore-wadawurrung-history-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Explore Wadawurrung history, culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

JOIN Wadawurrung woman Shannen Mennen at the Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections to explore Ballarat’s heritage through possum skin cloaks.<\/p>\n

The event, which is a collaboration with Federation University, is part of Ballarat Heritage Festival.<\/p>\n

The session will explore Wadawurrung peoples’ connection to Country and the significance of Waleert-Waleert or possum skin cloaks.<\/p>\n

“We give them the name Waleert-Waleert which in our language literally means many possums but it’s also the word that we give to possum skin cloaks,” Ms Mennan said.<\/p>\n

“Every person would have their own Waleert-Waleert. Their first possum skin would be gifted to them when they were about two months old or so and over time, they would actually add skins to the cloak.<\/p>\n

“Each cloak was significant to the individual and something they would decorate and have with them their entire life.”<\/p>\n

Ms Mennen said she hopes to broaden the community’s understanding of Wadawurrung culture and Ballarat’s origins.<\/p>\n

“For a long time, we’ve been omitted from the history of Ballarat in many ways,” she said.<\/p>\n

“When I was growing up within the schooling system, I was told that all Wadawurrung people had unfortunately died off and there was none left.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s incredibly important that people have that broader understanding of the region.”<\/p>\n

The session will be held on Saturday 17 and Friday 23 May. To purchase a ticket, visit the Sovereign Hill<\/a> website.<\/p>\n

Ms Mennen will also be at the Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections to discuss Wadawurrung Culture and Language on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 May.<\/p>\n

The sessions are a basic introduction to Wadawurrung language including place names, greetings and body parts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JOIN Wadawurrung woman Shannen Mennen at the Australian Centre for Gold Rush Collections to explore Ballarat’s heritage through possum skin cloaks. The event, which is a collaboration with Federation University, is part of Ballarat Heritage Festival. The session will explore Wadawurrung peoples’ connection to Country and the significance of Waleert-Waleert or possum skin cloaks. “We […]<\/p>\n

Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":211,"featured_media":34566,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-34517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-living"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nExplore Wadawurrung history, culture - The Moorabool News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Explore Wadawurrung cultural heritage at Ballarat Heritage Festival\u2014learn about possum skin cloaks, language, and connection to Country.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/themooraboolnews\/living\/explore-wadawurrung-history-culture\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Explore Wadawurrung history, culture - 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