Darrabi Garden

The Darrabi Garden

http://www.wikinorthia.net.au/friends-of-darrabi-aboriginal-native-food-garden/

The Darrabi Native Food and Reconciliation Garden was opened in May 2007 as a joint initiative of Nillumbik Reconciliation Group, Hurstbridge Primary School and Nillumbik Shire Council.

Darrabi is a Wurundjeri word for “awaken”. The garden is designed as an educational resource for children and visitors, and its layout reflects the ‘six seasons’ of the Middle Yarra Timelines Calendar: Early Spring, True Spring, High Summer, Late Summer, Early Winter and Deep Winter. Five hundred children from Hurstbridge Primary School have helped place a native plant in Darrabi’s ‘six seasons’ garden.

The garden displays a wide range of native species used by Aborigines for food, medicine, implements, shelter and clothes. It also features a 20m circle of rock seats around a fire pit, and provides a unique gathering space which is available for outdoor education, Indigenous ceremonies or for other community groups to explore the rich cultural history of Indigenous Australia and the diversity and usefulness of our Australian native plants.

The garden is maintained by the Friends of Darrabi and is located on Council land in Ferguson’s Paddock, which is beside Hurstbridge Primary School and adjacent to the Diamond Creek. It is surrounded by bushwalking trails, playgrounds and open public space. (Melway 263:A7)

You can download a brochure about the garden here (240KB); for a species list or more information, please contact Hurstbridge Primary School on 9718 2386.

Darrabi Native Food and Reconciliation Garden
Dion on didg at the opening of the Darrabi Native Food and Reconciliation Garden