THE announcement last week by Fremantle MLA Simone McGurk that Lotterywest is giving the City of Fremantle a $949,993 grant to create a significant artwork at Walyalup Koort, made me quite emotional.
I felt grateful and proud to live in such an inclusive and progressive city, where we embrace the indigenous history of the place we live in.
The Kaarl Boyak Naariny (Fire is Burning in the Rocks) art installation by Whadjuk Noongar artist Sharyn Egan in collaboration with artist Simon Gilby, will be one of the most important public artworks in Western Australia, I believe.
The vision for the artwork includes a gathering of large rocks, geographically aligned to the fourteen Noongar nations, a fire vessel, a field of illuminated stars, and a digital element showcasing Noongar history. Pointing a smartphone at the individual rocks will bring up information about each region and a message from local clan elders.
The symbolic and though-provoking art installation will complement and contradict the urban colonial environment in which it will sit, between the heritage listed St John’s Anglican Church and the modern architecture of the Walyalup Civic Centre.
This recognition of our First Nations people, in the centre of the city where the colonisation and invasion of the west of Australia started is of enormous importance.
It will be a great destination of education for local students, but also for tourists and Fremantle locals, and it is an enormous step toward tangible reconciliation.
It will be a place to respectfully remember and contemplate the sacrifices made by those who have lived here for some 50,000 years.
We have very little public art, or information, about Fremantle’s indigenous history, so the importance of the Kaarl Boyak Naariny artwork should not be underestimated.
It is exceptionally significant and an unforgettable milestone in the reconciliation journey.
It will be an iconic piece, that will create awareness.
It will show all who come to see the art installation that Fremantle has an indigenous heart and soul, and that we are proud of it.
The installation of the artwork has still a way to go, as the regional elders now will have to be consulted, and they will then select a significant rock from their region, so it is estimated that the art will be in place in front of the Walyalup Civic Centre by mid 2026.
This is one major reconciliation step for Fremantle, the city that was one of the first local councils to scrap Australia Day celebrations, out of consideration and respect for our Indigenous people, who consider January 26 to be Invasion Day.
Fremantle council was also one of the first to implement an Aboriginal reconciliation policy some 14 years ago, that was upgraded to the Walyalup Reconciliation Action Plan (WRAP) four years ago.
Reconciliation had a major set back last year when Australian voters rejected the flawed Voice referendum.
It was disappointing that it was made into a political football by those who were against it.
That created a lot of unnecessary confusion.
There was a lot of misinformation and misunderstanding of what the Voice to Parliament was meant to do, because it was badly explained and promoted by the Albanese government.
The one positive that came out of the referendum though was that the majority of voters in the City of Fremantle voted Yes.
Fremantle is a true national leader in the reconciliation process, and in recognising and respecting our Aboriginal history.
I am very proud of that!
Roel Loopers/FREOVIEW