Visions for Intercultural Education
The Melbourne Convergence
November 16th, 2pm – 6pm
Victoria University
“Visions for Intercultural Education”
* Elders Panel of Willandra Lakes World Heritage Area, sharing their visons for the future of Mungo National Park
* Prof Jim Bowler sharing his own stories of discovery and visions for the future
* Grammy nominated Musicians Pato Banton & Antoinette Rootsdawtah share their musical ministry
This event is FREE, tea and coffee will be provided.
*** Please note, spaces are strictly limited! ***
The story that changed our nation, rewrote the history books and affirmed the survival of the oldest living culture on the planet, will be celebrated at Victoria University city campus this November.
In commemoration of the two-year anniversary of the history-making, Return to Country of Mungo Man; Unity Earth, in partnership with Cultural Infusion and closely supported by the Charter for Compassion Australia and United Religions Initiative (URI), will host the `Visions for Intercultural Education’ Melbourne Convergence.
This event will offer those in attendance a rare opportunity to hear directly from some of the Tribal Elders of the Willandra World Heritage Area, as they reveal their shared vision of a World Class Cultural Education facility and finally, a home for the ancient remains of both Mungo Man and Mungo Lady, in an interactive panel discussion.
Additional context will be provided in presentations by Professor Jim Bowler, climate change scientist and the man behind the Mungo Man discovery; and Professor Peter Blaze Corcoran, a Senior Research Fellow at Earth Charter, who will add insight of large scale global perspectives.
Continuing in the theme of history-making revelations, the afternoon will also feature the launch of Cultural Infusion’s all new digital Mungo Explorer national curriculum package that is set to change the current learning landscape of primary and secondary school students across the nation.
The Mungo Explorer national curriculum will be presented by Indigenous Cultural Educator, Noongar Elder, Alan Harris and Cultural Infusion’s Jenny Bowler, who will provide insight into the curriculum’s content and explanation of the significance of now being able to provide teachers with an accurate resource of our nation’s ancient history.
Join us this November at the `Visions for Intercultural Education’ Melbourne Convergence and learn about the story of Lake Mungo, its rich history and important role in our nation’s future.
What: “Visions for Intercultural Education” Melbourne Convergence
When: Saturday, November 16, from 2pm to 6pm AEDT
Where: Victoria University, Flinders Street Campus, 300 Flinders Street, Melbourne City
This event will be complemented by live music, performed by acclaimed international act, Pato Banton and Antoinette Rootsdawtah, is free to attend and complimentary tea and coffee provided.
Places are limited, so register your attendance today.
Join the conversation via the Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/events/578017642935513/?ti=icl
ABOUT THE RETURN TO COUNTRY OF MUNGO MAN
“A ceremony returning the 42,000-year-old remains to the place they were found at Lake Mungo 42 years ago, was followed by a concert in Mildura, featuring performers from Indigenous communities across the country. Three different Aboriginal groups have connections to the country attached to Lake Mungo; the Muthi Muthi, Nygiampa and Paakantji. Michael Young, a Parrintyi, Paakantji man and member of the Aboriginal advisory group for Mungo Man’s return, said the community was eager to share the celebration with other Indigenous people.”
“It started out in an industrial complex carpark – hardly fitting, it seemed, for a man who helped us redefine our understanding of human history – but this was the repository for treasured artefacts that were held in collection by the Australian National Museum. Hemmed in by a Bunnings trade warehouse, kitchen joinery workshops and automative businesses, it was the place from which the remains of Australia’s oldest known man, Mungo Man, began a three-day, 800km journey back to country.”
“It was one of the more cinematic funeral caravans in recent memory. In November 2017, a black vintage hearse trundled across the verdant Australian sheep country west of Sydney toward the shimmering deserts of the outback. Laid out inside was a beautiful rough-hewn casket crafted from 8,000-year-old fossilized wood. A convoy of Aboriginal elders and activists followed close behind. At every stop on the way—in sonorously named bush towns like Wagga Wagga, Narrandera and Gundagai—the vehicle was met by jubilant crowds. In Hay, two Aboriginal men escorted the hearse into a park, where an honor guard of teenage boys carried the coffin to an ancient purification ceremony that involved cleansing it with smoking eucalyptus leaves.”
LOCATION
Melbourne, Australia
Victoria University
Conference Centre