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Aboriginal Grave MarkerPrint Page Print this page

The monument was erected in memory of Aboriginal families and friends who have been laid to rest in this location with no remaining headstone to indicate the location of the graves. 

The headstone is painted with flora and fauna relevant to the local Aboriginal community. The headstone was created by five students at TAFE Western who finished a 10 week course in Wellington, which taught basic literacy and numeracy skills and how to cut material like granite and to do inscriptions.

In a bid to get more Aboriginal people involved in “sorry business”, the traditional processes of dealing with death, Teresa Yasserie of the Aboriginal Education Training Unit, funded courses in Bourke, Dubbo and Wellington that would involve a broad range of skills and training.

At TAFE in Wellington The Aboriginal Passing Program (TAPP) has been focused on the modelling of headstones with carpentry teacher Chris Woods, followed by art teacher Iris Reid teaching traditional Aboriginal art so that students can paint the monuments and create a personal and meaningful legacy. They have nearly finished two monuments which will be unveiled on August 14 at the Falls Road site, Blacks Camp at 11am and the Old Wellington Cemetery at 1.30pm.

The monuments are in memory of the Aboriginal people buried with no remaining headstones to indicate the location of the graves. The monument for the Old Wellington Cemetery depicts a goanna, the area totem, while the Falls monument depicts other totems for families of the area: the possum, black snake and echidna.
The camp site is thought to contain 14 grave sites relating to the Dawkins, Goolagong, Gotch, Holland, King, May, Mickey, Nolan, Riley, Stanley, Stewart and Wighton families as well as other families of Wellington and surrounding districts.

The monuments have taken since February to complete because of the weather and the difficulty of the paint drying.

“It introduced me back to skills I’d learnt before, but brought me up to using them again,” student Raymond Newman said of the program. He felt that it also helped him foster qualities which he hadn’t sought out, but would be useful in the future. “I also took on a leadership role, people looked up to me and if I can help other people to get there I will,” he said.
Wellington Times (NSW), 29 July 2013.

Location

Address:Falls Road, Old Aboriginal campsite, Wellington, 2820
State:NSW
Area:AUS
GPS Coordinates:Lat: -32.553034
Long: 148.973724
Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.
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Details

Monument Type:Monument
Monument Theme:Culture
Sub-Theme:Indigenous

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:Wednesday 14th August, 2013
Front Inscription
In remembrance
of our Aboriginal
families and friends
who are laid to rest here.
Source: MA
Monument details supplied by Monument Australia - www.monumentaustralia.org.au