Diocese_Of_Sandhurst_YearInReview_2021

7 Throughout Sandhurst there are many Lands, Tribes and Clan groups. This artwork is intended to teach about our home and communities, a union of our day-to-day lives and the old living culture embedded in the landscape. This is Sandhurst in Country, our layered foundation. These rich and diverse lands are colour-coordinated according to the Registered Aboriginal Parties of Victoria. Coloured in red and gold line-work are contested grounds, the result of devastation and dispossession of culture and knowledge, a reminder of healing still to come. Ultimately, we are looking at a ‘to scale’ map of Sandhurst Diocese which includes major towns, roads and, of course, the back roads that the office staff are fond of. Every town which has a Sandhurst school is mapped out in black dots connected by the roads which are filled with pattern. The point of this is to have staff connected to this country through familiarity; memories of long drives through coun- try and thoughts of stories experienced from the day before and the day to come. It is through this that we realise the number of tribal areas, sacred sites, important landmarks, hunting grounds and places of conflict that we pass through, pass by, or work in, unnoticed and unaware. It is here, below the stained glass of our Church, below the Red Rose and the Paderborn Cross that we have our home, our country, our communities and, importantly, the stories of the future being laid out within the work we do; the foun- dation of education. Artist’s Statement Artist: Troy Firebrace Medium: Acrylic on Linen Sandhurst in Country Catholic Education Sandhurst Aboriginal Education Officers, Michael Chisholm (left) and Troy Firebrace (far right), present the artwork “Sandhurst In Country” to Bishop Shane Mackinlay at the Sandhurst Priests’ In-service in August 2021.