Panel discussion: ngiyama mirrim baany yulendj | reawakening deep water knowledge
Australian cities are Indigenous places, yet their built environments have long been shaped by histories of extraction and environmental change, which have displaced Indigenous memory, materiality and relationships to Country.
This panel brings together Indigenous and non‑Indigenous academics behind the new Melbourne Museum exhibition ngiyama mirrim baany yulendj: reawakening deep water knowledge.
Drawing on the ARC Linkage Project Repairing Memory and Place, the panel explores foregrounding water as a living presence carrying memory, story and responsibility - connecting past and present relationships across Country and over time.
Through examples from Boonwurrung Country - buried wetlands, laang tageek baany (rockwells), laang kagarrak baany (water held in sand), museum collections, and LiDAR scans and maps - the speakers will explore how water continues to move under, through and across Boonwurrung naarm derp bordupren uther weelam (Boonwurrung home/bay Country), despite colonial attempts to contain it.
Speakers:
Professor N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs AM (Boonwurrung/Wemba Wemba), senior elder, Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council, Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab, Monash University
Professor Brian Martin (Bundjalung, Kamilaroi, Muruwari), ARC Future Fellow, Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab, , Monash University
Dr Laura Harper, Department of Architecture, Monash University
Dr Ana Cristina Lara Heyns, Urban Water Ways Team, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Associate Professor Marilu Melo Zurita, School of Humanities and Languages, UNSW Sydney
Associate Professor Catherine Murphy, Department of Architecture, Monash University
Event Details
- Date:
- 8 October 2026 at 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm
- Venue:
- Melbourne Museum Theatre, Lower Level Melbourne Museum, Nicholson St, Carlton
- Cost:
- Free
- Register here:
- https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/ngiyama-mirrim-baany-yulendj-reawakening-deep-water-knowledge-tickets-2001444582624
- Categories:
- Fine Art; Architecture; Industry / Alumni; Research; Research: Monash Urban Lab; Research: Wominjeka Djeembana
Description
Australian cities are Indigenous places, yet their built environments have long been shaped by histories of extraction and environmental change, which have displaced Indigenous memory, materiality and relationships to Country.
This panel brings together Indigenous and non‑Indigenous academics behind the new Melbourne Museum exhibition ngiyama mirrim baany yulendj: reawakening deep water knowledge.
Drawing on the ARC Linkage Project Repairing Memory and Place, the panel explores foregrounding water as a living presence carrying memory, story and responsibility - connecting past and present relationships across Country and over time.
Through examples from Boonwurrung Country - buried wetlands, laang tageek baany (rockwells), laang kagarrak baany (water held in sand), museum collections, and LiDAR scans and maps - the speakers will explore how water continues to move under, through and across Boonwurrung naarm derp bordupren uther weelam (Boonwurrung home/bay Country), despite colonial attempts to contain it.
Speakers:
Professor N’arwee’t Carolyn Briggs AM (Boonwurrung/Wemba Wemba), senior elder, Boonwurrung Land and Sea Council, Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab, Monash University
Professor Brian Martin (Bundjalung, Kamilaroi, Muruwari), ARC Future Fellow, Wominjeka Djeembana Indigenous Research Lab, , Monash University
Dr Laura Harper, Department of Architecture, Monash University
Dr Ana Cristina Lara Heyns, Urban Water Ways Team, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action
Associate Professor Marilu Melo Zurita, School of Humanities and Languages, UNSW Sydney
Associate Professor Catherine Murphy, Department of Architecture, Monash University