An Aboriginal art gallery and shop opened last week at Umbarra Cultural Centre, 10 years after the centre shut down as a public destination for cultural experiences and information.
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Between Bermagui and Tilba, Umbarra Cultural Centre operated from 1998–2008, and was a popular venue for exhibitions, historical displays, cultural activities, tours and storytelling.
The Umbarra Road property is owned and managed by Merrimans Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC), which has an office at the nearby Wallaga Lake Koori Village.
Sisters Alison and Maria Walker wanted to start a small business to promote Aboriginal culture and artists, so they approached Merrimans LALC with a proposal to re-open the Centre four days a week running an art gallery and shop, under their business name Madhang Djabadj Ngaranggals, which means “strong black duck women” in Djirringanj language.
‘It’s something that needed to be done for our community,” Maria said.
“Culture has always been in me and Alison, and we have this beautiful big resource that’s sitting here that’s been vacant for years. Alison and I are very inspired to start our business, and coming from the Wallaga Lake community we thought why not revive Umbarra Cultural Centre?”
The property is a significant Aboriginal place with access to Wallaga Lake. When operating, there were regular boat tours on Wallaga Lake, and walks up Gulaga Mountain, sacred to the Yuin people.
The Merrimans board is committed to supporting the centre to operate again a public cultural centre, hub and gathering place for Aboriginal artists and creative producers.
There are no other Aboriginal cultural centres on the Far South Coast. The tourism and economic development opportunities Umbarra could provide for Wallaga Lake Koori community are significant, and there is no shortage of support from the non-Aboriginal community who have fond memories of it.
Alison hopes Umbarra can once again be a leading cultural destination.
“It was built to help keep culture alive,” she said. “Doing art is a healing process, it’s therapy and I’m inspired by my elders. I started with shell work and now I paint and do all sorts of things.”
Maria can see the economic potential: “A functional cultural centre brings work to the community, and also when other people see that we can do it, hopefully it will inspire them to get up and have a go with their own enterprise.”
The centre will be open from 10–3pm, Thursday–Sunday for the summer months. This project is a partnership between Madhang Djabadj Ngaranggals and Merrimans LALC, with support from Eurobodalla Shire Council, South East Arts and Red Cross Narooma. Local Aboriginal artists are encouraged to contact Alison or Maria at the Centre.
