ARTIST: Simone Thomson
LANGUAGE/REGION: Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung / Yorta-Yorta
YEAR: 2023
TITLE: ‘Ngarra-jarra-noun Toomballangin – Healing Promise’
MEDIUM: Acrylic on Canvas

In her majestic form, Birrarung, river of mist and shadows weaves gently between the mountains and across the land. Her once crystal blue waters were divided by a beautiful waterfall that separated the saltwater of the Bay to her freshwater. This sacred waterhole has been the gathering place of the Wurundjeri People since the time of Bunjil’s Creation. Birrarung’s spiritual healing water represents the heart of Wurundjeri Country and signifies CSL’s rich values in Culture and protecting human health. 

We are of the earth; this is where we gain our healing from. From the gifts of the land and its  surrounding waters and nature. Our environment provides us with bountiful plants which have been used as bush medicine amongst Clans for thousands of generations. Rich, healing properties are represented by the ‘old man weed’ plant, the ‘kangaroo apple’ plant, the ‘waratah’, the ‘banksia’, the ‘bottle brush’, the ‘gum leaves’, the ‘bush wattle’ and the ‘lilli-pilli’. These plants are all connections to Country  and signify CSL’s promise of advancing human health and patient focus.  

In the Aboriginal way, a person is represented by ‘U’ symbols. This reflects a bird’s eyes view of a person in the sitting position. The ‘U’ symbols along the river signify Community and represents CSL’s core values of ‘we are stronger together’.    

Black and copper circles connect throughout the story. Their wide reach blankets Country from the Birrarung to its surrounding mountains. The circles represent CSL’s values of social and environmental well-being of all their communities. 

Along the outer mountains and hills lies cross hatching. These markings represent the weaving bag and dilly bags used for collecting our special bush plants and the care taken in preparing them for use. The woven bags represent CSL’s innovative thinking and their solutions and them taking pride in their results, it is their healing promise, their ‘Ngarra-jarra-noun Toomballangin’.  

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