Dr Mandy Nicholson
Born in Healesville, Dr Mandy Nicholson is a Wurundjeri artist, Woiwurrung Language Specialist, and Traditional Custodian of Naarm (Melbourne) and surrounding areas. On her father’s side, she has connections to the Djaara (Dja Dja Wurrung) and Ngurai Illum Wurrung Language Groups of Victoria, and on her mother’s side she has German heritage. She is also a proud mother of two daughters and a Guka (grandmother).
For more than 30 years, through her art practice Tharangalk Art, Dr Nicholson has produced a wide range of works including carvings, etchings, prints, murals, digital artworks, airbrushed and painted works, drone projects, audio installations, and large-scale public art. Wurundjeri art traditions are regionally grounded, reflecting the identity of fresh-water, bushland people with a rich carving culture distinguished by symmetrical lines and diamond motifs.
Dr Nicholson has collaborated extensively with architects and landscape architects to embed cultural safety within public spaces and corporate interiors. She has been a cultural consultant for many years, co-authored masterplans, and papers on embedding First Peoples’ perspectives in design and planning in urban contexts. In recognition of her expertise, she was appointed Senior Lecturer in First Peoples’ Perspectives in Design at the Melbourne Centre for Cities at The University of Melbourne from 2024 to 2025.
She is also deeply committed to mentoring young Wurundjeri women through the teaching of culture, language, dance, and ceremonial practice. In 2013, she founded the Djirri Djirri Dance Group to provide cultural grounding and leadership pathways for her community. In 2015, alongside two Wurundjeri Elders, she revived the ancient Murrum Turrukurruk (Coming of Age) ceremony after 185 years of dormancy. This work was recognised in 2022 with the Ganbu Gulinj (One Mob) Award at the Melbourne Awards. Djirri Djirri has performed widely across Wurundjeri Country, nationally, and internationally, receiving accolades such as the Rites of Passage Award at Dance Rites (Sydney, 2018) and invitations to perform in Aotearoa, Canada, and the USA.
Dr Nicholson holds a Monash University Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Aboriginal Archaeology. She worked for six years at the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL), where she became a Woiwurrung language specialist after more than three decades of language research and revival. Through this work, she developed language resources for her community, and she continues to share Woiwurrung through song, dance, and cultural education for the wider community.
In 2023, she completed her PhD at Monash University titled On Country Off Country, which explored how people maintain connections to Country even when physically away from it. Her research highlights the multiple layers of Wurundjeri Country — Biik-ut (Below Country), Biik-dui (On Country), Baanj Biik (Water Country), Murnmut Biik (Wind Country), Wurru wurru Biik (Sky Country) and Darrangalk Biik (Bush Country above the clouds) — and how these interwoven layers are held within one’s murrup (spirit) across where and 'when' (genetic memory) you are.