Vibrant mural to bring life to Damibila Dreaming story

Power and Water’s Woods Street Substation in the Darwin CBD tells the story of Damibila (Barramundi) Dreaming by Larrakia artists Tony, Trent and Jason Lee.

Damibila Dreaming is an important creation story for the area. Barramundi created the spring, which gave access to the mermaid dreaming and connects with many other dreaming stories.

Power and Water is proud to share this important cultural story with our community, on Larrakia Country.

Through local consultant Britt Guy, Creative Accomplice, we have been engaging with Traditional Owners, Elders and Indigenous artists to identify local stories about the continued connection with and importance of power and water, relevant to the land we live and operate on and where our infrastructure is located.

The stories formed the basis for creating artworks that will be painted on Power and Water infrastructure, shared through our social media platforms and included in our Reconciliation Action Plan.

“This has been an exciting and collaborative process, building our understanding of the history of power and water as a resource in our community and helping us capture and share important Indigenous stories from across the Territory,” Power and Water A/CEO John Pease said.

David Collins, Proper Creative and Director of Darwin’s Street Art Festival, has been engaged to paint the first of the artworks, Damibila Dreaming, in collaboration with members of the Lee family.

“We are working to identify suitable infrastructure across all regions, with consideration to planned repairs and maintenance, road safety and cultural safety,” said Mr Pease.

“This is a longer-term project that will take place over the next 18 months.”

Power and Water is committed to reconciliation in our workplace and our community.

We are in the process of developing our second Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan to guide our focus on developing and strengthening relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and building meaningful partnerships.

Painting of the mural started on 11 October and is now complete.

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Contact: Media unit

Phone: 0401 117 599

We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of this land and are committed to reconciliation among all Australians.

Learn about our vision for reconciliation