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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-06-16 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

Berri Bridge Mural

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:16): I rise today to speak about an historic piece of state government-owned public art in Berri, in the Riverland, that may not be around for future generations to enjoy unless something is immediately done to reverse its state of disrepair. The mural was erected underneath the Berri Bridge, which was built in 1985. As I understand it, the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure now owns the Berri Bridge mural. The Indigenous mural is about six metres by 50 metres wide and tells the Dreamtime story of the river's creation, from the history of the Riverland's fruit industry to the pioneering days of the Chaffey Brothers and paddle-steamers.

The mural features carvings of various native animals, along with the Mulgewanki, a bunyip creature whose role is to watch over the River Murray. The mural was painted in 1985 by community groups, upon the construction of the Berri Bridge, under artistic director and well-known Riverland artist Garry Duncan. The mural's artistic director, Garry, said:

When they wanted to build the bridge they needed some land which belonged to the Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal people quite kindly allowed them to use the land on the condition that the local Aboriginal people were involved in building the bridge and also in the mural.

The state government has an obligation to maintain the mural for future generations to enjoy. However, the mural is currently suffering from severe white ant damage and instead of public art for all to enjoy, it has become a real hazard.

The Berri Barmera Council, as I understand it, has contacted DPTI several times seeking repair and maintenance of the mural and I have personally written to the minister on a number of occasions. I am yet to receive a reply. The council has had pest control contractors in to treat the mural but, unfortunately, due to the way it is mounted it cannot be done effectively to eradicate these white ants and borers. Urgent attention is needed to save this historic Aboriginal mural before it deteriorates beyond repair.

Having met with the minister this morning, I would hope that he and the department will treat that mural with the utmost respect and have it restored and renovated to a satisfactory standard for all to enjoy. The Berri Bridge mural is an important part of the Riverland's history and I urge the minister, his department and the state government to act immediately to repair and retain this colourful and vibrant artwork for future generations to enjoy.

Regarding the mural, it is about telling the story of the Ngurunderi Dreaming. The Ngurunderi speared Ponde and Ponde thrashed around and made the banks of the river and that is now the shape of the river. Who is Ponde? Ponde is the Murray cod, speared by Ngurunderi way up in the high country. Was it hard to convert their verbal culture into actual images? They were able to depict their travels and they did not find it all that hard to translate. When you have a fantastic story like this to tell, it is not very difficult to centralise it.

As to the bunyip's story, Mulgewanki is the proper name of the bunyip and he is supposed to be the custodian of the river. In the traditional lore it is there to scare the kids from going into the river and drowning themselves. There are four poles around the mural—north, south, east and west—and the reason is to do this traditional role and keep an eye on the mural as it does with the river.

Who else was involved with creating the mural? There were a number of Riverland Indigenous people, including Shane and Jason Karpany, Elsie Sumner and Ikey Lindsey. They were the main instigators and their work is fantastic. They were great historians and a great help to the artistic director, Garry Duncan. I think it is an artefact that needs to be restored and respected. It needs to be part of the Riverland's regional tourism.

Time expired.

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