Connecting Members, History, and Art in Peace Park

Image: Peter Wilson sharing the history of the Bicentennial art walls in the Peace Garden. Photo: Ingrid Pearson.

On a beautiful autumn morning, a group of eighteen including past president Max Wilson and his wife Margaret,  gathered at the Proclamation Cairn. We learnt about the history of Country, the significance of the Peace Garden, and public artworks in Peace Park and along Wambuul/Macquarie River.

The President’s welcome  at the Proclamation Cairn erected in 1956, included an acknowledgement of the significance of place and Country to the Wiradyuri People. We learnt that long before the arrival of Europeans, it was a thriving cultural landscape that on the eve of colonisation, showed a Wiradyuri society that was dynamic, organised, and deeply connected to land and spirit. On 7 May 1815, when Governor Lachlan Macquarie declared Bathurst as the first inland settlement by planting the British flag on the banks of Wahluu, history changed.

Gallery Volunteer Guides and guest speakers, led the group through the Peace Garden and visited these artworks in our bicentennial Peace Park, talking about

• The significance of the Heritage wall lined with stories of families who contributed much to the growth of Bathurst from yesteryear until more modern times, and the significant contribution of the Indian Government to the establishment of a Peace Garden  and a bronze of India’s first prime minister Nehru as relayed by John Payne.
• Artist Peter Wilson recounted the creation and contribution by schoolchildren to the bicentennial ceramic brick wall design with Indian and British Indian motifs under Karen Tyler’s guidance. The ceramic ‘bricks’ were produced with support from Tim Hector and Bathurst Brickworks.
• The concept and development of the Society’s bicentennial gift to the Bathurst community culminating in Conversation by Stephen Hart was told by  Guide Coordinator, Denise Payne, after researching our archives. The artwork was made possible by support from the community through sales of jams and preserves as well as generous donations from local businesses and individuals.
• The endangered local species depicted by artist Jessica Leffley in her  mural Saving our Species were recounted to us by Guide Dianne Thurling. It included a story about the grasslands earless dragon named after our local Ian McCartney.
• Wambuul the mural by Calum, William “Bubba” Kennedy, and Paul Riot imparted the significance of the river in the Wiradyuri society as a gathering and nurturing place as told by Ingrid Pearson.

At the end of the walk, several members stayed on to have their lunch together, share stories and sweets, and socialise. As the Wiradyuri would say in Aboriginal English: “What a deadly (awesome, fantastic, great) day”.

Acknowledgements: History of Wiradyuri Country and Wambuul: from Panel #1, The Story of Bathurst (Bathurst Heritage Matters, National Trust Bathurst, with involvement of BRAGS). Conversation by Stephen Hart: various articles from the Western Advocate 1986-1988. Saving our Species: artist Jessica Leffley in conversation with Dianne Thurling.