New mural celebrates culture and history of Dalyellup for NAIDOC Week

A local artist has finished her latest large-scale work showcasing her ancestors’ history in time for NAIDOC week. The mural at Dalyellup Senior High School, by Balardong Wardandi woman Tahlia Bennell, highlights the cultural bonds of the saltwater and river clans in the South West, but also expresses the horrors from the region’s darker history. Tahlia had returned from an artist-in-residence program in Sydney through Tourism WA alongside her father, renowned local artist Troy Bennell, the pair started work on the mural in May, finishing the last few details in the last week of June. Her grandmother Violet Bennell, who was a part of the Stolen Generation, would walk with her family from Collie to the coast on journey that “linked the tuarts to the beach”. “The mural is scaled out to do cultural mapping of the area and the importance of what it means to the local Indigenous people,” Tahlia said. The cultural map begins on the left with a silhouette landscape featuring tuart and grass trees, a path winding out from the trees below three rainbows that represent the past, present and future. Along this winding path, Tahlia has painted 14 coral designs to represent the 14 Noongar clans in the South West region, showing the clans’ connections to each other from the saltwater to the rivers. The next portion of the map contains a hidden part of the area’s history. “Most people don’t know there was a massacre from Busselton all the way to Minninup (in Wonnerup),” Tahlia said. Official records from the time of the massacre in 1841 said “five or six natives” were “regrettably” killed, but the true horrors of that day and the total death toll are still not fully known. Tahlia held a workshop with some of the school’s Indigenous students about the Wonnerup massacre and the cultural significance of the area around Dalyellup. “It’s important to educate them on the cultural aspects of the area, but also the massacre and the importance of holding our culture strong,” she said. “Many of our ancestors were a part of that massacre. “It’s really important for me to be able to address the cultural significance of Dalyellup, but also the history that most kids — and even adults — don’t even know.” Through the workshop the students helped incorporate a few design details into the artwork to show this culture and history. For Tahlia, education is the key to better understanding, especially during NAIDOC week, summing up the significance of the week into three words: “Resilience. Culture. Identity.” “I think it’s all about education and breaking down barriers,” she said.