Nelson Bay: NAIDOC Week project complete and installed at entrance to Tomaree Community Hospital

Four totem poles and a number of boomerangs painted by students from Shoal Bay, Anna Bay, Tomaree public schools and St Philip's Christian College now frame a vibrant blue, yellow and black wall mural created by Indigenous woman Nikita Austin at the entrance to the Nelson Bay hospital.

"This is an extension of the Indigenous artwork that is featured throughout the hospital, acknowledging the traditional landowners," said Karen Austin, the hospital's clinical support officer and a Wonnarua woman.

"This artwork out the front of the hospital is something the entire community can enjoy."

A project more than a year in the making, the hospital reached out to primary schools across the Tomaree Peninsula in February last year to take part in NAIDOC Week activities that included a colouring-in competition, painting 80 boomerangs and totem poles.

Students from the four schools enthusiastically took part in painting the boomerang and poles but then COVID-19 interrupted, seeing the project's completion - the installation of the poles, boomerangs and plaques outside the hospital - in February 2022.

"It has taken a long time to get to this point but it has been worth the wait," Mrs Austin said.

"This is going to be something in the community for a long time, something that spreads awareness about Indigenous culture and is something the students who worked on it can be proud of."

About 16 of the boomerangs that the students painted were used as prizes in the colouring-in competition while others have been hung inside the hospital.

Four from each school have also been hung outside, near their totem pole which features the handprint of each Indigenous student.

Mrs Austin's daughter Nikita, a Wonnarua woman who grew up on and runs her speech pathology business on Worimi land, designed the mural and spent each weekend for two months painting the wall.

"I'm really proud of it," Miss Austin said of the mural. "It was a huge accomplishment. It's really good to look at and has already sparked a lot of conversation."

In designing the mural, titled Worimi, Miss Austin said she wanted to "encapsulate what Worimi and Port Stephens" means. She included quintessential Port Stephens symbols in her artwork including rain, water, rocks, the sand dunes and kangaroo tracks.

In the centre of the mural is a circle depicting a meeting place, inside which sits 18 smaller circles that represent 'ngurra'. This represents the 18 Worimi groups, or clans, that existed in Port Stephens prior to colonisation.

Outside the meeting circle are symbols that look like horseshoes, which represent people. Their use in the artwork is the depict the people who carry on the culture and traditions of the Worimi today.

Below the artwork sits a sign outlining what each of the mural symbols mean - so the viewer can understand the story it is telling.

Shoal Bay Public School student and Ngunnawal girl Janaya Bewagito, 10, was one of 30 Indigenous students that worked on her school's totem pole and boomerangs last year.

Her boomerang has been installed inside the hospital.

On viewing the completed and installed artwork, Miss Bewagito said "I really like it".

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: