The City of Greater Bendigo is located on the traditional lands of the Dja Dja Wurrung and the Taungurung Peoples of the Kulin Nation. They are the traditional custodians of this land.
An Acknowledgement of Country is a protocol delivered at the opening of meetings, conferences, special events and official functions. It is a way for other people to acknowledge and pay respects to the Traditional Owners of the land on which they are speaking.
Unlike a Welcome to Country, an Acknowledgement of Country can be given by any non-Aboriginal person or an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person who is not a Traditional Owner.
I acknowledge that the City of Greater Bendigo is on Dja Dja Wurrung and Taungurung Country.
I would like to acknowledge and extend my appreciation for the Dja Dja Wurrung* People, the Traditional Owners of the land that we are standing on today.
Today, we pay our respects to leaders and Elders past, present and future for they hold the memories, the traditions, the culture and the hopes of all Dja Dja Wurrung* Peoples.
We express our gratitude in the sharing of this land, our sorrow for the personal, spiritual and cultural costs of that sharing and our hope that we may walk forward together in harmony and in the spirit of healing.
*If you are delivering an Acknowledgement of Country on Taungurung Country, please refer to Taungurung People.
This wording would be appropriate within the City of Greater Bendigo, and is the City’s official Acknowledgement of Country. This wording has been approved by the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans Aboriginal Corporations as of May 2018.
For a map of the Registered Aboriginal Parties in Victoria, including the RAPs covering the area of Greater Bendigo, please refer to the Victorian Government's Welcome to Country and Acknowledgements Map.