Hunter Region Bicentenary MemorialPrint Page

The monument commemorates the Aboriginal people, European settlers and convicts who lived and died in the Hunter Region of New South Wales. It is believed to be the nation's first unified Indigenous / non-Indigenous monument and commemorates the bicentenary of European settlement in the Hunter Region 1797-1997. 

The Hunter Region Bicentenary Memorial was opened by Dr Refshauge and Aboriginal elders on February 19, 1999. 

The Memorial has three aspects - Yallarwah Place, Yallarwah Bicentenary Walk and Yallarwah Circle of Reflection. Yallarwah is an Awabakal word meaning resting place. Yallarwah Place, in the grounds of the John Hunter Hospital, provides what is believed to be the first accommodation centre for the families of Aboriginal patients in Australia and will serve the Aboriginal communities of the Hunter and northern New South Wales.

The Bicentenary Walk is a track in bushland adjacent to Yallarwah Place that meanders through the trees to a circular clearing, the Circle of Reflection, where six large stones have been placed in a circle. On a seventh stone in the centre is the first of the three bronze plaques created by Vlase Nikoleski, which is in the shape of a book. The right-hand page reads: In memory of the Aboriginal people, European settlers and convicts who lived and died in our shared Hunter History 1797 -1997, while the left-hand page has a quotation from the Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld (1825-6) explaining the significance of the stone circle to the Awabakal.

The other plaques - one placed at the head of the Bicentenary Walk and the other on Yallarwah Place - depict the hand prints of Novocastrian Tales authors, as well as Gough Whitlam and the NSW Minister for Health and Aboriginal Affairs, Dr Andrew Refshauge, who opened the building. "Hands have been used as images and forms by artists through different periods as signatures and as a means of expression" Vlase said.  Aboriginal culture utilised stencilled hands in order to mark a presence - to say that individuals have been there and are part of the place. Hands are very expressive and no two hands are the same. "By putting the hands together in a certain way, I have made a complete image that generates energy and houses the writing that Paul (Walsh) wanted to incorporate, so that they are protecting as well as harnessing the collaborative spirit of the place." 

Location

Address:	Kookaburra Circuit, Yallarwah Bicentenary Bushwalk, Near Hunter Medical Research Institute, New Lambton, 2305
State:	NSW
Area:	AUS
GPS Coordinates:	Lat: -32.919718 Long: 151.691398 Note: GPS Coordinates are approximate.

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Details

Monument Type:	Monument
Monument Theme:	Landscape
Sub-Theme:	Settlement
Approx. Event Start Date:	1797
Approx. Event End Date:	1997
Artist:	Vlase Nikoleski

Dedication

Actual Monument Dedication Date:	Friday 19th February, 1999

Source: MA