Film Screening: First Nations Places and Heritage around Bungendore
Know This Country - Weereewa screened two short films on 11 August 2024 about important Aboriginal sites in this district that have been declared as Aboriginal Places: the Stone Quarry on Millpost farm near Bungendore and the Ochre Quarry on Gollion, Sutton. The film screening event, held in the 1st Bungendore Scout Hall, was well attended with close to 40 interested community members present. Our host was Barrina South, a Barkindji woman, Manager of Repatriation and Aboriginal Heritage Conservation with the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) and local poet who writes about Country. We were also treated to her reading her poem Weereewa from her upcoming debut poetry collection. Film-maker Stuart Cohen, who was present at the event, made the films in 2016.
Barrina explained that there are only 5 Aboriginal Places on privately owned land in NSW, and two of those are situated in this district. She hopes that the films will help landowners understand that recognising Indigenous cultural sites on their land will not be a threat to their ability to carry on farming practices.
During a picnic at Millpost in 2015, Indigenous Archaeologist Dave Johnston identified the quarry and immediately set about contacting local Aboriginal families and bringing them to see the site. Shortly after the Millpost discovery, Dave visited “Gollion” and made another exciting - and totally unexpected - discovery when he found rocks that have been traditionally used to create ochre for ceremonial purposes. With the help of Barrina and the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage, the gazettal of the Millpost Axe Quarry occurred in June 2018 and the Gollion Ochre Quarry gazettal followed some months later.
Judith Turley of Millpost also joined the post-screening conversation:
“Our family was thrilled to have this confirmation of evidence of Indigenous occupation here.
For decades we had been finding suspected artefacts scattered around, but it never occurred to us that they could have been quarried right here.
The re-discovery of the axe quarry has added a wonderful new dimension to our experience of living here at Millpost. We are now much more aware of the people who came before us and their benevolent impact on the landscape over millennia.
Making strong connections with the descendants of those people has been a great privilege.”
The two films have kindly been provided by Stuart Cohen’s film production and photography business Bottlebrush Media.