On behalf of the exhibition team and all of the many artists and collaborators who worked on the show, welcome to Emu Sky. Held at the Old Quad, on the University of Melbourne Parkville campus, on the lands of the Wurundjeri-Woiwurrung people, Emu Sky opens in November 2021. This exhibition will stretch across almost a year, running in parallel with public programs that will illuminate many of the stories featured, as well as an innovative education program presented and conceived by a team of young Aboriginal community members in collaboration with Science Gallery Melbourne and the STEM Centre for Excellence. There will be many opportunities for multiple forms of engagement and we have built the show in a way that we hope will appeal to all ages and to people from all walks of life.

Wurun djeri wominjeka 2021 vinyl on glass, sound duration 2 minutes 14 seconds Courtesy Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin AO

vinyl print, lighting reproduced from the original Emu Sky 2008 linocut print on paper 43.1 x 70.9 cm

Karnka (digging sticks) 2020 niilya (nelia wood, dark - Acacia loderi); malka (mulga wood, light - Acacia aneura)

Courtesy the artists and Garuwa Creative

untitled walam-wunga.galang (grindstones) 2019 / 2021 sandstone, stone, 5.1 surround sound duration 6 minutes 30 seconds Courtesy the artist and Dr Uncle Stan Grant Snr AM

Sediment cores 2019-2021 organic matter, minerals, charcoal, pollen, epoxy resin Courtesy of Associate Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher

A collaboration between several Aboriginal artists, marrum (overflowing) continues the stories told in Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones’ recent ground-breaking exhibition Bunha-bunhanga: Aboriginal agriculture in the south-east. Jonathan explains:

wana-string-fence-lines 2021 digital video, textile, painted wall (aqua) duration 15 minutes 30 seconds

Leempeeyt Weeyn (Campfire) 2021 stone, sand, wood, fire

audio duration 15 minutes

Aboriginal people across Australia have developed a multitude of uses for plants through scientific observation and testing over the longest time imaginable. Plant knowledge has been central to the longevity of Aboriginal communities, who use plants for medicine, nutrition and technologies, such as watercraft, tools and traps.

Emu Sky was made possible through a huge group effort

Aunty Kim Wandin Dhangidj Binak (food basket) 2021 Spiny-headed mat rush, sedge, flax

David Doyle Bartii kulthi partii 2021 emu eggs depicting quandong (karnpuka), cumbungi, rosella, bush banana (garkala), and murnong

Simon Briggs nanyirr (yam sticks) 2021 used red ironbark and grey box