Kandos Museum - $12,000 grant

Article in Mudgee Guardian 31/5/13

With the Aboriginal Heritage Grant the Mid-Western Council has just received, the Kandos Museum 
will be able to put together a Dabee Travelling Cultural History Exhibition.

By LAUREN STANFORD
 
    The Kandos Museum received a $12,000 Aboriginal Heritage Grant last week that will enable them to develop a Dabee Travelling Cultural History Exhibition in partnership with the Aboriginal people of Kandos.

    "The grant will help us with site identification, the building of the travelling exhibit on the Dabee people and the creation of a small introductory exhibition at the Kandos Museum,” Colin Jones, Curator at the Kandos Museum said.

    "The project is about recognising family ancestors of the Dabee people. The exhibition itself will identify individual North-Eastern Wiradjuri people and their ancestors that contributed to the creation on Kandos and the culture in the region today," Mr Jones said.

    Lyn Syme, Native Title Cultural Heritage Officer at Moolarben Coal, was instrumental in getting the exhibition off the ground. Ms Syme put forward the initial $12,000 and it was with that money the Kandos Museum was able to apply for the "dollar-for-dollar" Aboriginal Heritage Grant.

    The exhibition will travel around to schools, other museums and cultural centres in order to educate people on the historic significance of the Dabee people in the local area.

    "In the local area, people are under the assumption that there are not any Dabee people left anymore. This exhibition will help show them that this assumption is not at all true,” Ms Syme said.

    The exhibition will include photographs, stories and artefacts and will also include information about the descendants of these Dabee ancestors who were a large part of the Kandos area. Member for Orange Andrew Gee said the grant was one of nine Aboriginal Heritage Grants that were announced by the Minister for Environment, Robyn Parker.

    "I am sure the proposed project will provide a valuable history of the Wiradjuii and Dabee people in the region," he said.

    The grant is part of the NSW Heritage Grants program that provides grants to help bring state and local heritage buildings and places back to life, fund emergency repairs and care for Aboriginal places.