Acknowledgment of the traditional owners of Western Sydney University land

Western Sydney University acknowledges the custodians of the lands in which we meet, work, learn, and socialise. We pay respect to the peoples of the Darug, Tharawal, Eora, and Wiradjuri nations where our campuses are located. We acknowledge that the teaching, learning, and research undertaken across our campuses continue the teaching, learning, and research that has occurred on these lands for tens of thousands of years. We acknowledge and pay our respect to the Elders past, present, and emerging.

Source: ‘Matta: Meeting place’ by Jason and Trevor Dalmarri

Co-created by the team of WSU School of Business, Parramatta, this artwork represents the lands and communities upon which the Parramatta City campus is built. The word Parramatta comes from the Aboriginal word ‘Baramada or Burramatta’. The Burramatta people (Burra meaning place and Matta meaning the eels) belong to the Dhurug people, who lived in this food-rich area before the time of the white invasion.

The story to this artwork is the land you work on today, showing the diversity of the area and paying respects to the past.

The “Matta” roamed along these rivers and grew large along the banks of the Burramatta river and in abundance. The green and blue waterways run through the artwork as they moved ever so gracefully up and down the inlets. The artwork shows the bubbles, the current, and the plentiful fish running through what today is known as Parramatta. The shoreline depicts the edge of the land as the waters head out to Sydney Harbour and the ocean.

The colourful sections represent all the towns surrounding Burramatta. inside those towns are circles belonging to multicultural families now living on Dhurug country. The dot lines and tracks were once walking lines of the Dhurug people, now turned into roads, routes, and railway lines.

These lands occupy the growth of the town now called Parramatta in honour of the first Australians. Western Sydney University acknowledges the Dhurug nation as the traditional owners of the lands we work and live on today.