In line with NAIDOC Week, two local Indigenous artists have been commissioned by Lake Macquarie Council to install an artwork along the new Fernleigh Awabakal Shared Track (FAST).
Shellie Smith and Daniella Chedzey, alongside fellow artist Julie Squires, will create a work featuring sculptures of traditional 'gunya' shelters, bark canoes and Aboriginal campsites.
Lake Macquarie Mayor Kay Fraser, said commissioning the work puts Council closer towards completing the FAST project.
"This will be a meaningful acknowledgement of the traditions and daily lives of Awabakal people, who called this area home for thousands of years before European settlement," she said.
"Commissioning this artwork is another step towards this significant active transport project, linking the end of the Fernleigh Track and Belmont to Blacksmiths."
Once completed, the track will create the longest active transport route in the Hunter region, stretching 27km from from Murrays Beach to Adamstown.
Manager of City Projects at Lake Macquarie Council Adam Wakeman, said the new installation has been designed to be interactive and engaging for both locals and tourists, by passing on Awabakal knowledge and culture.
"Being a significant environmental area, we're conscious of the Indigenous heritage of the area, so we've engaged with some Indigenous artists to help us interpret some of the history, not only through architectural works in the bridge, but also the bus shelters and the like that we're opening," he said.
"We're hoping that once this is opened, it'll help with tourism, activation of the area, as well as being an iconic, recreational pathway for people tp use to get out and get active."
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| Image: Lake Macquarie City Council Website |
