Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association in Hastings, Victoria | Non-profit organisation

Willum Warrain Aboriginal Association

Locality: Hastings, Victoria

Phone: +61 3 5979 1391

Address: 10 Pound Road 3915 Hastings, VIC, Australia

Website: http://www.willumwarrain.org.au

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• Non-profit organisation
• Community organisation

24.01.2022 NAIDOC week has been different this year, much like the last 7 months! But not even covid can get in the way of a Willum Warrain tradition our Flag Raising Ceremony! We celebrate this year’s theme Always Was, Always Will Be which recognises that First Nations People have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years and that our sovereignty was never ceded. We acknowledge the wealth of knowledge and skills that First Nations People have and highlight our history as the first engineers, first agriculturalists, first scientists, first astronomers, first bakers and so much more. We hope you mob enjoy our video and can’t wait to have you all back at the Gathering Place. Happy NAIDOC everyone

24.01.2022 We had a really exciting day packing for our Elders. Taneisha has organised some special treats to add to the meals Nic from Volpino drops off every week which we so appreciate. On Monday, our Elders are having a special iso morning tea virtually. We are really looking forward as an Elders' mob to having a yarn. Also, today we added in some beautiful masks lovingly made by a community member - thanks so much, Juanita. We all want our Elders to stay safe......but there is more..........

23.01.2022 This week on the menu dropped off by Nic from Volpino and delivered by Sean (seen pictured), some delicious chicken curries for our Elders and our grocery pack had some extra special treats donated by Jill, one of our Associate members and a great supporter. Also distributed were Yarning Safe and Strong flyers, fridge magnets and wrist bands! Iso is tough but a little bit of support helps. Please contact us you mob if you are struggling on 0403 528 034. We will get back to you for sure.

23.01.2022 It was a big day today at Willum Warrain. First of all thanks to Sam from Somerville and her team donating delicious bread and rolls to our Elders for today's run. It is so appreciated. Willum Warrain would also like to thank Charbel Yamouni from Bright Sparqe for connecting us with Sam. Bright Sparqe is an innovative organisation that connects business to social support endeavours. We are surrounded by so many supporters but wait there is more........

22.01.2022 The photo is from pre-COVID days as you guessed. Some bad news received today. We still can't open. We have just learnt that restrictions have not been lifted for outdoor spaces for Gathering Places which means we can't run programs as planned this week. Stay tuned. As soon as we can open, we will!

22.01.2022 ABC News recently screened this segment on Willum Warrain and the deadly work we do supporting our Elders during COVID. We are so proud of Sean and Karsten who make this vital service happen every Friday. One of the many strengths of Aboriginal mobs is that we always take good care of our community. Thanks too to the Dept. of Jobs, Precincts and Regions for investing in our Gathering Place through the Working for Victoria fund.

22.01.2022 Hello Aboriginal kids in Grade 6 and their parents. This is a deadly opportunity. Woodleigh School is offering two full Indigenous scholarships for two Year 7 students in 2021. https://www.woodleigh.vic.edu.au//woodleigh-school-communi Applications are due by Oct 23rd.

21.01.2022 Hello everyone. Hopefully with numbers dropping, we will be able to get back to Willum Warrain sooner rather than later. In the meantime, our beautiful plants are in full flower this spring.

20.01.2022 Here is a picture of Aunty Jennine Armistead, our much loved Elder at Willum Warrain, in her backyard amongst the monsteras, with a photo of her great grandmother. She is with Catherine Forge, Curator, "Museum in my Neighbourhood", Museum Victoria. Catherine came out this evening to interview Aunty Jen about her habit of putting plants out in front of her house for local residents to take home and/or leave new ones to share. Aunty Jen explained to her that this is the Aboriginal way, sharing with everyone and she told her the story of Willum Warrain, how it is a home for mob living off country and how we cared for our Elders during lockdown. There is a lot to be learned from the oldest living continuous culture on earth..........

18.01.2022 Bush Play Group was full of life this week with 13 beautiful bubup's in attendance. We all loved painting boomerangs, listening to Aunty Ange read us a story and making music with clap sticks. It's so special to see these friendships forming from such a young age and pride in identity and culture

18.01.2022 All our programs returned this week including Deadly Kids. So great to have our youth back running through the bush, seeing their friends and parents and grandparents joining in the fun too. We started with a smoking ceremony, looked at our turtle pond and re-thatched our desert-mob style hut. Life has returned to Willum Warrain. We are resilient. We aren't going anywhere. Nearly back to normal.

18.01.2022 Bree and Josh were weeding around the old turtle pond today tidying up the front entrance and Bree found a female turtle. Pictured here with Taneisha, the turtle has now been relocated to its new more spacious home.

17.01.2022 Need help with rent? The Victorian Government has established a rental assistance fund to provide rent relief payments of up to $3,000 to Victorians experiencing rental hardship due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. https://www.housing.vic.gov.au/help-renting/rentrelief

16.01.2022 Willum Warrain is going to air on the ABC National News this Sunday night at 7.30pm (20th Sept). Sean's story will be the main focus as our deadly Community Support worker but there are 3 Elders who also might have a co-starring role. Tune in you mob - what an achievement for our gathering place! Aboriginal people are great at looking after their communities. One of our many strengths!

15.01.2022 During the week Sean got a phone call from the Minister for Employment, Jaala Pulford MP. Willum Warrain receives funding via the Working for Victoria scheme to support our community. Today an ABC crew came and filmed Sean and the team in action for the weekly Elder's drop off. How exciting was that! You will see various shots of Sean, Peter, Taneisha and Karsten with Sarah Jane Bell (reporter) and Peter (producer and film) in action. A go pro was installed in the bus - the ABC was embedded for the drop offs. Some of our Elders might appear in the segment too if it goes to air!

15.01.2022 Bush Play Group was so much fun today. So many bubups playing together, learning culture. We crafted Bunjil and Waa with feathers, sang, danced and listen to Aunty Ange read stories. Exploring the bush looking for animals hiding and spotting turtle in our pond was full of joy. Next week is the last group for 2020 so we hope to see all you mob there

15.01.2022 Last week, Claire Quinn, Ecologist from South East Water purchased plants for a local school indigenous garden project. Claire was our first ever sale (followed on by Hansi later in the week). See Claire in front of our Women's group painting with Taneisha Webster, Executive Officer/ Women's Business with a large murnong (yam daisy).

15.01.2022 Thank you to these deadly sistas for their kindness and patience as we try to move key cultural activities like weaving to an online platform. Today we worked on finishing our turtles and they look DEADLY! Check out some of our photos - more to come

14.01.2022 As part of our Pun Pun wetlands development, we needed to take some baseline samples of our billabongs. Eddie from Melbourne University helped out Claire and Tash from South East Water - Bree Webster, our Cultural Landscape Coordinator, was an eager participant too. All our billabongs are in radiant health and teeming with life! These pictures might be a little technical to view but in terms of macro invertebrates, it was rich pickings. When we heal country (& our waterways), we heal ourselves.

14.01.2022 Here is an important opportunity for parents and carers - a webinar on transition for little ones to school from VAEAI (Koorie Education).

13.01.2022 The weeds in our veggie garden have been loving lockdown but not our mob. Still, this week, our Zoom cultural sessions resume! On Tues 6th Oct. at 11.00am is Men's Group On Wed 7th Oct. at 11.00am is Bush Play Group On Thurs 8th Oct. at 11.00am is Women's Group ... & on Thurs. afternoon at 4.00pm is Deadly Kids. Looking forward to seeing all you mob again. PS. If you joined our Zoom sessions last term, you will be automatically sent the link to next week's sessions. If you are joining for the first time, text Karsten your email address on 0403 528 034 and he will send you the link. See more

12.01.2022 We had a great day today at Women's Group, we had a yarn, did a smoking and made some deadly jewelry. It was heart warming to see so many sista's (15 in total) back at the Gathering Place and hearing how important their connection to each other is

11.01.2022 Applications close 30th September 2020. Interested Indigenous students, please directly email [email protected] to apply for our Graduate Program with your contact details, degree title, year completed and preferred Graduate Program area. More information on this opportunity can be found - http://search-jobs.southeastwater.com.au//south-east-water

10.01.2022 It was great to have Dylan, Darren, John and Ken come today and have a yarn with those fellas we haven't seen for ages. We also had a friendly visit from Somerville police - thanks fellas for dropping in to say hello and hearing the story of our hut. It was a wet day and despite our best efforts to finish the top coat, the weather gods were against us. Next week, is the final Men's group for the year - we are hoping to get a big mob to finish the hut off. Love to see everyone who can get there, there!

10.01.2022 We can't do much at the moment but when restrictions are lifted, we will swing into action in our Pun Pun (Wetlands) area. Ross Trust who have supported Willum Warrain over many years (including via Hillview Quarries) are funding a two year restoration and walkway project. Wetlands are such vital and threatened ecosystems. We will be getting help from South East Water and the Mornington Peninsula Shire with this project too. Excitingly, the Pun Pun project includes an elevated walkway for community use and visiting tours. This will extend our existing Koorie Plant Trail experience and create a corridor linking bush, wetlands and the waterway behind the gathering place. That waterway is part of the Warringine catchment and runs into RAMSAR protected Westernport Bay. When we heal country, we heal ourselves!

09.01.2022 What a great way to start off the week with our Elders Yarning Circle and Morning Tea! Elders are so important to us at the Gathering Place and we have been missing you all! A big thank you to everyone for coming together and sharing in this virtual world. We all enjoyed having a cuppa and biscuit together, however not all the snacks survived the weekend for this mornings catch up We are here to support our mob however we can during these challenging times - so please reach out if you need to yarn. Stay Safe! Stay Deadly!

09.01.2022 We have started selling plants at Willum Warrain! Hansie Wegner purchased 50 murnong (yam daisies) to plant at Dangean (DevilBend Reserve) - thanks Hansie for supporting our mob. Bree Webster is pictured happily handing them over today. Another exciting step forwards for our community (enabled through Djakitjuk Djanga, a joint initiative of the Victorian Federation of Traditional Owners and Agriculture Victoria).

08.01.2022 A 20 second description of Willum Warrain's project!

06.01.2022 Hey fellas, as you can see, our hut has been tarped to keep it safe from the rain. We have some work to do to finish it off including patching up cracks, giving it a slurry coat before waterproofing it. Looking forward to seeing you fellas on Tues, 10-2.00pm. Lunch supplied and if you need pick up, please ring Karsten on 0403 528 034. It was so good last week to be able to come together, yarn and laugh and enjoy each other's company without the impediment of masks.

04.01.2022 Thanks everyone for your interest in buying plants from our mob! Willum Warrain is selling a small selection of plants to the public (cash only) at the Gathering Place in 10 Pound Rd, this Fri. 4th Dec (10-2pm); this Sat. 5th Dec.(10-12 midday); next Fri. 11th Dec. (10-2pm). Drop in or ring 0403 528 034 for more information. This includes our top five deadly plants: - Garawang (apple berry); Chocolate lily; Karkalla (pigface); Myrnong (yam daisy); Lomandra (mat rush) Other pl...ants currently available: - Vanilla lily; Bulbine lily; River mint; She Oak; Silver Wattle; Black Wattle; Blackwood; Prickly Moses; Silky Hakea; Green Sedge These plants are available in different sizes:- Standard tube size $3/ Super tubes $5/ Small Pots $4/ Medium pots $7/ Large pots $10 See more

04.01.2022 We had our AGM virtually today and knocked it over in 38 minutes! Thanks to everyone who tuned in live and all those who cast proxy votes in advance. Aunty Lorraine Parsons ran the meeting with her usual grace and positivity as Chair, with both President Jeanette Kaindel and Treasurer Aaron Simmler commenting on the impacts of COVID on our community and operations. We are all very hopeful of a brighter 2021! Congratulations to Shirley Slann and Debbie Clifford for being reelected for another term on the Board and welcome to Aaron Simmler and Rob Morgan as new appointees. All four spoke to the importance of Willum Warrain for them personally and their strong commitment to realising community aspirations. Thanks to retiring Board members Tom Sipthorpe and Stephen Thornbury for their contributions.

03.01.2022 We started work on salvaging the hut today. It has been left to the elements for the last 8 months. We hosed it down, pressed in the clay and filled in holes. Next Tues. we will be putting a top coat on it before we seal it. We closed down before the job was completed. We had a lovely day with ten fellas turning up - mob are returning slowly. It was great to have a yarn and reconnect. George was a dynamo; Kyah was a great help and Uncle Doug supervised us well. We look forward to seeing more bruthas soon. If you need transport next week please ring to be picked up on 0403 528 034

02.01.2022 Hi you mob, we are resuming cultural programs as normal this week with the easing of restrictions, Men's Group Tues 24th 10-2.00, lunch supplied Bush Play Group Wed 25th 10-12, morning tea supplied Women's Group, Thurs 26th 10-2.00, lunch supplied Deadly Kids, Thurs after school, 4.30-6.00pm, afternoon tea supplied. NB. if you need the bus to pick you up, please contact Karsten on 0403 528 034

02.01.2022 It has been exciting for staff returning to the Gathering Place to see all our wildlife flourishing, blue tongues, turtles, wood ducks, sugar gliders, scorpions. In our turtle pond today, there were two wood ducks pond side - see the male staring straight at the camera. His companion had a clutch of chicks beneath her wings. Jim Greenwood, our good friend, visited yesterday and checked on the habitat boxes he installed for us last year. There was plenty of life inside, ringtails and sugar gliders really love Willum Warrain's bush. See a clutch of wood duck eggs as well - the next generation on the way!