Heritage Ventures
Voices from the Secret River
SUNDAY 28 APRIL 2024
Journey into the waterways of Dyarubbin with historians, writers and storytellers for a morning river cruise exploring the secret histories of the Lower Hawkesbury.
Come ashore for an afternoon symposium visualising rock engravings, sky connections and the archaeology of Mangrove.
Join us for a river cruise, symposium or both where Mangrove Creek meets the Hawkesbury River.
River Cruise
SUNDAY 28 APRIL 2024
9am-1pm
Step aboard and be taken back in time into Dyarrubin history. At the mouth of the creek Stephen Gapps describes the many Aboriginal uses of the waterways as places of refuge uncovering the hidden histories of resistance. Pulling up at Gentlemans Halt, hear indigenous historical fiction by writer Julie Jason evoking life on the river in the 1830s. Our historical immersion continues with Max Burns-McRuvie as we cruise upstream towards Singleton's Mill passing Peter Hibbs land grant and an abandoned ochre mine for stories of bolters, bushrangers and early river traders.
SUNDAY 28 APRIL 2024
1pm-4pm
The afternoon Symposium brings together knowledge of rock art, tool making and Australian indigenous astronomy. Bob Pankhurst reveals his life time personal exploration of rock art sites around the valleys and ridges of the hinterland and waterways. Honouring the work of Val Attenbrow hear how tools were made, formed and distributed at the Popran/ Peats Ridge quarry and the Mangrove creek area. Dr Ray Norris shares his pioneering work guided by elders to uncover the significance of the celestial emu and interconnections between land and sky.
Symposium
Heritage Ventures pays tribute to the First Peoples, their heritage and contribution to our contemporary society and acknowledges the First Peoples as the original custodians of the land and waterways.