Ms Morphy-Walsh - a Taungurung woman - has grown up in art communities.

"My family has been a huge part of (my love for art)," she said. "My father, Uncle Larry Walsh, is a well-known Taungurung elder and storyteller from my mob. Mum was trained as a fine artist and weaver.

"Just by birthright, I grew up in kitchens and living rooms of different artists in Victoria because that's the scene my parents were in.

"(Art) is something I have always done on a community level and in my home and is something I have aspired to translate to a bigger audience, that's what this job will allow me to do."

Read more:

Ms Morphy-Walsh takes over the role from Shonae Hobson who has gone on to become the Indigenous art curator at the National Gallery of Victoria.

"I have been watching Bendigo for a while," she said. "When the (First Nations curator) position was first created, I watched with eagerness to see how it would go.

"It's been a dream to walk in and inherit work that I have received from Shonae and other gallery colleagues. I can see the gallery is putting its money where its mouth is and doing things culturally, completely and soundly. That's part of the journey."

Having grown up in Taungurung country - between Violet Town and Broadford - Ms Morphy-Walsh said she felt Bendigo chose her for her new role.

"I grew up in the country as a country girl and am an artist," she said. "The perfect amalgamation of all my loves in life came together in this job. My mother was an artists and (I like) telling stories of our mob the right way - culturally, soundly and safely.

"When the pandemic happened and was living in the city, it didn't make sense anymore. I was wondering what I was doing in this big ginormous town where i can barely breathe or see nature. Literally all of what I was looking for (came about) when this job came up."

Ms Morphy-Walsh is already looking forward to hanging her first exhibition when the time comes early next year.

"I am working towards the first gallery hang in our collection next year," she said. "We are working out what to do and what themes we will be exploring.

"I'm really excited about the collection we have. Not many people realise that between five and 10 per cent of the (Bendigo Art Gallery) collection is First Nations artists.

"I'm excited to get them out and excited to begin to tell different stories with our collection."

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: