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For the Junortoun community it’s a valuable pocket of land that’s safe from development.
For the Dja Dja Wurrung Corporation it could provide a valuable place to run cultural activities.
People gathered on Sunday at small parcel of land at the heart of Junortoun to celebrate spring, and learn more about the Indigenous heritage of the area.
The very name Knul-doorong means “all come together”.
The land in question was handed over to the community nearly 20 years.
The five acre block was donated to the City of Greater Bendigo with the wish that it be used by the Aboriginal community.
Its owner, who did not wish to be named, bought the land in 1974.
A single woman, she had saved for the deposit on a home.
When she applied to the bank, she was told single women were always the lowest priority for a mortgage. If her brother or father could be her guarantor she might have received a loan, but any couples who applied would take precedence.
Instead the owner decided to put the money to good use, buying five acres at Junortoun.
Through her life the owner said she had been aware of what Aboriginal people had lost when Europeans came to Australia.
Around 2000 she saw development throughout the area cutting swathes of woodland to the ground. So she decided to act to preserve the woodland and put it to good use, by donating it for the use of the Aboriginal community.
“This is just a smidgen of what they had lost,” she said.
“This will stay like this, and it will belong to the community.”
Dja Dja Wurrung Corporation director Bec Phillips ran a cultural workshop, talking about language dance and song on the day. It followed on from a smoking ceremony and welcome to country led by fellow director Mick Bourke.
Ms Phillips said the Dja Dja Wurrung Corporation hoped to be involved in the continued care of the land.