Our community includes people from all over Australia and the world, and our members all bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to our group and our community. We have connections to people and places all over the world and have a deep connection to all of our indigenous brothers and sisters from abroad. Our connections to Aboriginal people within Australia stretch far and wide, with many of our mob from remote and distant places that have found a place within our group, we like to spend time on country as much as possible and share our places and ceremonies with our extended community.
The corporation is structured with a board of Dharug elders and community members, members and associate members; we follow our constitution, which is available online along with our yearly reports and financial reports. We are a transparent group that believes we need our cultural connection to survive in todays world.
We encourage community members to come along to our meetings; our meetings are positive and constructive.
Our staff consists of a committed group of Aboriginal people that work on sites with Cultural Heritage conservation as one of our priorities. We have been working with consultants for many years within Darug boundaries; the Darug Custodian Aboriginal Corporation volunteered on site for many years to enable Aboriginal people’s involvement in the cultural heritage of our sites in this area. Our elders protested for many years for our involvement and input into the care of our places.
There are numerous Dharug artists within our group; we aim to promote our artists and assist with selling, copywriting and royalties for artists. We encourage recognition for our artists to assist with Dharug cultural knowledge in our surrounding communities by facilitating workshops and sharing our knowledge.
Language inclusion in Dharug country is a high priority to our group; we offer workshops and assist with language for numerous community events and projects.
Our Aims
The aim of our group is to educate the wider community about Aboriginal people and our culture, we assist with educational programs on culture, cultural sensitivity, language and cultural delivery within all education sectors. Education is key to our people moving forward in todays society, our group can also assist with connecting people to community elders and organisations. We have, after many years of community work realised that education is the key to our peoples success, we enjoy assisting our mobs to succeed within the community and the work place with support from community and elders.
Our Artists
Leanne “Mulgo” Watson Redpath
Leanne is an artist, educator, book illustrator and a Dharug woman commonly known in the Aboriginal community as Mulgo, meaning Black Swan. The daughter of Aunty Edna Watson and Uncle Allan Watson, elders of the Dharug community, Leanne was born and raised in Sydney. She started painting at a young age, taught by her mother Aunty Edna Watson and her brother Bundeluk Watson. She is now a mother and grandmother and has spent her life living, promoting and protecting Darug culture, people and places.
Nicolee Payne
Nicolee Payne is an Australian artist who resides and has a deep connection in the Hawkesbury. Mulgo and Nicolee have known each other for many years and have a wonderful connection through friendship and art.
Nicolee began her career drawing Licenced characters for a leading toy manufacturer and designing and creating style guides for the ABC Childrens Television Department. Her freelance work led her to private and commercial commissions, mainly of a Mythical nature. With a bank of images, she created her own set of Inspirational Cards designed to assist others with their own creativity.
Nicolee’s work took a different direction around 2013, that of portraits and animals.
She was selected as a finalist for the Archibald Portrait Prize in 2014 for her portrait of Rugby League cult hero Fui Fui Moi Moi.
Nicolee is available for commercial and private commissions and illustration work. She is available for private lessons and various classes and workshops throughout the year from her studio in Wilberforce, NSW.
Jasmine Seymour
Jasmine Seymour is a Dharug woman belonging to the Burubiranggal people. She is a Dharug language teacher, researcher and activist. Jasmine is a registered primary school teacher (BEd) with a Masters degree in Indigenous Languages Education (University of Sydney). She teaches Dharug language at her school and also delivers Dharug lessons in community to adults. Jasmine is the author/illustrator of Baby Business, winner of the CBCA Best New Illustrator Award in 2020 and also the author of the 2020 Prime Minister’s Literary Award winning children’s title, Cooee Mittigar, illustrated by Leanne Mulgo Watson. As a researcher, she is engaged with documenting Dharug, has collaborated with Grace Karskens on the Real Secret River project and is a co-curator for the Dyarubin exhibition at the State Library of NSW. Jasmine is the secretary of the Da Murrytoola Aboriginal Education Consultancy Group (AECG). She is currently studying a Masters by Research at Western Sydney University.
Dharug Boundaries
Our group is a not for profit organisation that has been active as in Western Sydney as a community corporation for over 40 years , Dharug people have lived in this area for over 60,000 years. Dharug land is from the Blue Mountains in the west to the sea in the east, from the Hawkesbury river in the north to Appin in the south.
Sydney basin is the land of the Dharug language group.
Dharug people have been pushed off our land since colonisation and this continues to happen, our culture is common sense, if you don’t know the Traditional Owner group ask what the language is and follow up on the information, Eora is a Dharug word meaning people, where the language is shows the tribal area’s.
This painting is by Aunty Edna this shows the coming together and celebrating the wet after the dry river beds. This is a story of celebration.
Painting by Mulgo Wirriga totem dreaming.
Painting by Mulgo, this painting is about Beecroft it is the story of the wattle in sandstone country it shows the time to move over the sites and meet for ceremony.
We pay our respect to Elders past, present and our future Elders within our community. Our Elders have smoothed the path for many of our people and we should always remember and respect what they have lived through and shared with us.
All art on our website is registered as copyright to the artist, all images and stories are the artists intellectual property. Gallery pieces are by various artists as identified.