Visual Story of Place: Hume

On the Northern fringes of Melbourne is Hume City Council. Formally established in 1994 the city encompasses 504 square kilometres, spanning from Tullamarine, Broadmeadows and Gladstone Park in the south, Craigieburn, Greenvale, Kalkallo, Mickleham and Roxburgh Park in the north-east and Sunbury and Bulla in the north-west. Although significant cultural knowledge was lost following the European settlement, the region is rich in Aboriginal cultural heritage.

The municipality is home to more than 700 registered Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Places, including burial sites, artefact scatters, earth features, low-density artefact distributions, object collections, quarries, scarred trees and stone features. Publicly recognised Cultural Heritage Places include Holy Green Mound, the Sunbury Rings and Sunbury Quarries. [1] The traditional custodians of the land of which Hume is part of are the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people, including the Gunung-Willam-Balluk clan.[2] They have been caring for Country for some 40,000 years but Hume today is drastically different since colonialism began here in the 1830s. There is an airport which takes up 10% of the total land, conservation sites, parklands, established, new, and growing residential areas, and industrial and commercial precincts.

We recently curated a history and heritage display for the new Council Chambers at the Hume Global Learning Centre in Broadmeadows. We wanted to link the past with the present so that Councillors, in their deliberations, could appreciate the contexts in which some of their communities' issues exist. Called 'Windows Onto Hume', we chose objects from the Civic and the George Evans heritage collections, and teamed with local photographer Gracie Lolicato to picture the contemporary landscape of Hume. Gracie’s photos bring focus to the environments in which residents live in, visit, and use. Although Hume contains historic landmarks like Rupertswood Mansion and Maygar Barracks in Broadmeadows – a training base for our troops during World War I, our focus for this project was everyday spaces. This photo essay showcases the varied landscapes in Hume whilst conveying the importance of different places for cultural and spiritual connection.

Although photographs are a lens into spaces and communities, in the past or the present, they are also little more than a type of representation or interpretation. No better has the limitations of images been analsysed that in Susan Sontag’s On Photography. In her seminal collection of essays, Sontag argues that photos are an interpretation of the world in which a photographer manipulates the subject.[3] Behind every image is a set of decisions, what is worth taking a picture of, what to keep and omit from the frame, which images to select, and how to edit, produce, and circulate them. [4] This careful process of decision making and selection by photographers is very similar to the work of historians, and we share some challenges. Through different mediums and skills, we are interpreting the world around us, however, we must think about how we can prevent reducing or generalising experiences. In this photo essay/article, we leave the objects behind and instead rely on some of Lolicato’s images of Hume to explore human and non-human environments, raising key themes to understand experiences within place rather than claim that this is all of Hume.

Colourful landscapes

In Hume’s residential areas such as Dallas, Gladstone, and Craigieburn, it is hard to come by a wall, fence, and even footpath that has not been marked by paint. There are disagreements about the value of graffiti, but it serves as a form of expression, a way to be seen in the landscape, and a way to tell your own story. And it is ubiquitous in Hume. Public art, the kind that engages with existing structures in the community, is an official form of graffiti. In 2021, Hume City Council commissioned local artists to create murals across the region in frequently visited spaces.[5] The public art project has transformed dull walls into colourful artwork that represent history and culture, encouraging a sense of community and belonging.

What Belongs Here?

Hume is a growing region and in 2041 is expected to reach 388,891 people.[6] To accommodate a growing population, cities require updated infrastructure, yet changes to neighbourhoods and community spaces can raise profound concerns for residents. In these photos questions are raised about what elements make or support community, and what can harm. Communities have found other ways of introducing the elements they feel belong in Hume.

Places of Sanctuary

Amongst busy, built-up environments are opportunities for members of the community to slow down and reconnect with the natural world. Woodlands Historic Park in Greenvale attracts hikers, cyclers, bird watchers, and nature lovers. The parkland in Greenvale is home to kangaroos, wallabies, wedged-tailed eagles, echidnas, and crimson rosellas as well as the critically endangered Eastern Barred Bandicoot. Illuminating the area’s cultural history, scar trees reflect how Wurundejri Aboriginal people lived in and interacted with the environment. Often people visiting the woodlands do not realise they are near or walking through a resting place for Aboriginal people and families. Weeroona Cemetry neighbours Historic Woodlands Park and was established in 1992 after tireless campaigning within the community by Gunditjmara Elder, Aunty Edna Brown.[7] This is a profoundly significant environment, integral to Aboriginal communities and families' right to be buried with dignity, mourn their loved ones, and be connected to country. People also create sanctuaries and revitalise nature in areas where the process of ubranisation has stripped it. In community gardens, people from different backgrounds come together to grow fresh fruit and vegetables. Gardens provide peace, rest, friendships, belonging, escape, and safety.

Local Businesses

Dallas Shopping centre is an outdoor precinct where locals from diverse backgrounds gather. Small businesses are vital parts of the community, selling groceries including traditional foods and items and creating opportunities for socialising over coffee or lunch.

Sources

Blog post written by Lauren Impey

All images courtesy of Gracie Lolicato

[1] Hume City Council. “Hume City Council Annual Report 2022/2023”. Melbourne: Hume Council: 2023. https://www.hume.vic.gov.au/Your-Council/Governance/Council-Plans-Reports-and-Policies/Annual-Report. 8

[2] Hume City Council. Hume City Council Creative Community Strategy 2020-2025. Melbourne: Hume City Council , 2020. https://www.hume.vic.gov.au/Your-Council/Governance/Council-Plans-Reports-and-Policies/Council-Strategies-and-Plans/Creative-Community-Strategy-2020-2025, 7.

[3] Sontag, Susan. On Photography. London: Penguin, 2008. 4

[4] Sontag, On Photography, 23.

[5] Hume City Council. “A Colourful Hume.” Accessed August 21, 2024. https://www.hume.vic.gov.au/Residents/Things-to-See-and-Do/Arts-and-Culture/Murals-of-Hume/Dallas-Tiles.

[6] Hume City Council. “Hume City Council Annual Report 2022/2023”. 8

[7] Koumalatsos-Thorpe, Jesse. Interviewed by Katrina Lolicato and Lauren Impey. Melbourne June 7, 2024