Djiljit Mia Community Gathering Place comes to life
Djiljit Mia - A community gathering place
Imagine a meeting place, a little pocket tucked away in the heart of Dunsborough, an exciting space inspired by nature for families to come and enjoy.
It's called Djiljit Mia Community Gathering Place! A totally community driven and community supported, grass roots project from beginning to end, and it was officially opened on June 6, 2020.
The gathering place, led and coordinated by Trish Flower from the Dunsborough Progress
Association and overseen by local cultural custodian Josh Whiteland, is designed to pay
homage to the traditional custodians and their ties to the Dugalup Brook area.
The location, situated next to Hannay Lane, is one of great significance to the Wadandi people - who once gathered for seasonal celebrations and to set traditional fish traps in the area.
"Having the old fish trap design reminds me of the circle of rocks, at high tide the fish would come in and at low tide it would be easy to escape. All the people would come and gather and enjoy all the wonderful stories and celebrate culture through songs, stories and dancing." Josh said.
Chairman, Busselton and Dunsborough Community Bank branches, Josh Hardy said “our team jumped at the chance to be involved with the project from very early on in the planning phase. We could see the potential of the project and what it would mean to the Dunsborough community.”
“Beyond investing financial support for the project we were also able to get our hands dirty on site one day digging, raking, borrowing and shovelling. It’s very rewarding for our team to see how their hard work and commitment to this project has paid off”.
Since opening, this space has really come to life with children and families of all ages exploring and enjoying.
A huge shout out to all of the local businesses who donated goods and services as well as the volunteers who donated their time to make this project possible.
We can’t wait to provide more updates on this completed project.