The City of Greater Bendigo on Monday officially endorsed a Games wish list declaring there should be "no boundaries" to honouring Traditional Owner cultures when the two week sports celebration kicks off.

The document gives fresh insight into early priorities discussed largely away from the public gaze.

They cover a host of topics unrelated to Indigenous people but make a particular point of recognising Aboriginal Culture.

The document is not the first indication of how significant a role Traditional Owners have played behind closed doors so far.

Dja Dja Wurrung people have spent months crisscrossing the world and consulting with Australian governments, councils and other groups.

Among them is Rodney Carter, the Bendigo-based Djaara chief executive captured on international cameras at Birmingham's closing ceremony.

He and other Indigenous leaders invited people to Victoria in 2026, rather than welcomed the Games to Victoria.

That difference characterises the space Indigenous people want centuries after the colonial invasion began.

"For the first time in our modern history we were at least afforded an opportunity to make a decision like that," Mr Carter said.

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Birmingham's Dja Dja Wurrung delegation came up with the idea. Other Indigenous representatives threw their weight behind it.

So as the world watched on, Traditional Owners extended an invitation in the heart of a country that had dispossessed them hundreds of years earlier.

Mr Carter hopes that act will be a harbinger of more acts of Reconciliation and respect.

After all, the Commonwealth is full of peoples displaced by a culture that was not invited in.

The Dja Dja Wurrung is playing a key role because its people have the sort of expertise and connections needed, Mr Carter said.

That includes an increasingly positive relationship with the City of Greater Bendigo.

That council has just endorsed a Games wish list highlighting the role Indigenous Culture should play if 2026 is to leave a successful legacy.

"There are no boundaries for this - it can include performance, art, food and education about local history," the council said in the document, which councillors signed off on last Monday.

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Games organisers "must" keep engaging First Nations people on things like the design of Bendigo's athlete's hub, and helping to heal Country, the document declared.

"From our perspective, it would also be essential for First Nations People to benefit from future social and affordable housing outcomes that stem from the hub after the Games," it said.

The council also wants Indigenous-led businesses to be extended the chance to tender for Games projects, along with Traditional Owner volunteering opportunities.

Story continues below council document.

The Dja Dja Wurrung wants to showcase its Culture to international visitors as a central plank of the Games experience.

"I think that's something new and visionary for central Victoria," Mr Carter said.

The Dja Dja Wurrung's Games influence is quickly extending beyond Bendigo and into top level Victorian thinking.

Mr Carter recently spoke to a state government backed gathering at the MCG about the Games and expects more detailed discussions to begin soon.

Meanwhile, Dja Dja Wurrung representatives have visited Canada to glean insights from that country's Indigenous groups, many of which are considered world leaders on Reconciliation matters.

They gathered to help draft a declaration on Traditional Owners, sport and the Commonwealth's Indigenous legacy.

The declaration should be ratified later this year, Games Federation president Loise Martin said.

"Our aim is to co-create a global declaration related to reconciliation and partnership through sport," she said.

Djaara's general manager Cassandra Lewis has visited Canada and come away with a critical insight likely to shape Victorian approaches.

"They [Canada's Traditional Owners] really described the importance of children having connections to sports," she said.

"The studies show that children exposed to elite sport before the age of five are more likely to have healthier living and ways. That's going to support better lifestyle choices."

Many Indigenous survivors of Canada's infamous residential schools have come to think of sport - and in particular what Canadian Indigenous people sometimes call "Creator's game" of lacrosse - as critical to their lives and wellbeing, Ms Lewis said.

"A lot of the people who came out of those schools had really traumatic experiences and they spoke about how sport played that role in changing their lives," she said.

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Some people wonder whether lacrosse should feature in 2026 as a "demonstration sport" in 2026 - Games nomenclature for a competition where teams would not medal - Mr Carter said.

Back in Bendigo, multiple local groups involved in Games deliberations expect decisions about athletes' villages, sports and infrastructure to be locked in by the end of the year.

Mr Carter hopes those decisions will allow Indigenous people to share stories of proud and resilient people.

"One of the things I saw in Birmingham was that we need to be prepared to be storytellers," he said.

"That city's hosts were absolutely brilliant but I reckon we can amplify that here, in a uniquely Australian way."

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