Article: Walgett Women and Girls Jewellery Project

Walgett Women and Girls Jewellery Project is a project facilitated by the Australian Design Centre in conjunction with the Indigenous Jewellery Project. 

Australian Design Centre partnered with Indigenous Jewellery Project’s Emily McCulloch Childs and contemporary jeweller, Melinda Young and Yuwaalaraay sisters Lucy and Nardi Simpson on a week of workshops in the regional NSW town of Walgett. The project was funded by Create NSW to introduce local artists and makers to jewellery making techniques with a focus on building skills, learning and making. Read more here.

This article by Nardi Simpson tells the story of Nardi and her sister Lucy's trip to Walgett for this project.

A reflection by Nardi Simpson

"Bringing the Indigenous Jewellery Project to Walgett for us then was like travelling through a doorway- in Gamilaraay country we might say ‘girrinil’- an opening. The project drew us northward and transported us both forwards and back. Into an oncoming week that was to be steeped in the pillars and practices of the past. As artists and storytellers, we looked forward to travelling to our grandmother’s home again. Although the rivers were dry, we looked forward to seeing our freshwater home, its banks and bare bed still hold the memory of our family, still hold a place and a part of ourselves. We looked forward to being alongside those we belonged to and introducing them to some of the people that cared for our artistic selves while we were away."

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Walgett Women and Girls Jewellery Project

A project facilitated by the Australian Design Centre in conjunction with the Indigenous Jewellery Project. A reflection by Nardi Simpson.

Lucy Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay woman, artist and designer working across a range of mediums and platforms to communicate stories and experiences of country. Nardi Simpson is a Yuwaalaraay storyteller and performer living in Sydney.

Image: Walgett Jewellery Workshop Materials, Photo: Melinda Young