Wominjeka – Welcome
Museums Victoria acknowledges the Woi Wurrung (Wurundjeri) and Boon Wurrung peoples of the eastern Kulin Nations where we work, and First Peoples language groups and communities across Victoria and Australia.
Our organisation, in partnership with the First Peoples of Victoria, is working to place First Peoples living cultures and histories at the core of our practice.
Bunjil the creator
Bunjil is the Ancestral Wedge-tailed Eagle, the creator. Waa is the Ancestral Crow, the protector. Bunjil created much of south-eastern Australia and the features and animals within it. He also created people, by breathing life into figures moulded from clay.
Stories of Bunjil and Waa provide meaning to south-eastern Aboriginal people. A person's affinity with either Bunjil or Waa defines their kinship relationships, marriage partners and social responsibilities.
Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre was planned in collaboration with many Aboriginal people, including the traditional owners of Melbourne, the Boon Wurrung and the Woi Wurrung. The name Bunjilaka was chosen as it means 'the place of Bunjil', evoking a sense of ongoing creation.
Inside the First Peoples exhibition in Bunjilaka, you'll find Bunjil's nest – a thick tangle of branches and feathers from the outside.
Within the nest hangs a marvellous kinetic sculpture that represents Bunjil’s wings, the sinuous curves of the Country he created, and the cycle of creation itself. As it moves and glows, Koorie Elders speak of Bunjil singing the Country, Law and people of the Kulin nation into being.