Marni naa pudni.

Blackfriars’rlu tampinthi, ngadluku piipawardli Kaurna yartangka tikanthi. Kaurna miyurna yaitya yarta-mathanya Wama Tarntanyaku.

Ngadlurlu tampinthi, parnaku tuwila yartangka.

Ngadlurlu Purkarna, Yaitya miyurna, puki-unangku, yalaka, tarrkarrila tampinthi.

Welcome.

Blackfriars acknowledges that our school is located on the land of the Kaurna people. The traditional custodians of the Adelaide region.

We recognise and respect their heritage, beliefs, and spiritual relationship with their Country.

We extend respect to Elders, past, present, and future and to all Aboriginal language groups and First Nations peoples.

Blackfriars’ Welcome to Country artwork was created by award-winning Aboriginal landscape architect and visual artist Paul Herzich, from mantirridesign. The piece represents Mr Herzich’s Kaurna and Ngarrindjeri culture, as well as Blackfriars’ physical location in the greater landscape.

The largest of the three panels is a site-specific piece, looking at what Prospect Road – Padnipadninya Tapa – was originally used as – a walking trail, through a burial ground and out to St Kilda. The sun features at the centre of the piece, which also incorporates journey lines from the school, the burial ground, summer stars, the Milky Way and the Southern Cross, the latter a connection to Blackfriars’ Catholic identity.

Bush turkeys and kangaroo rats, as inhabitants of the area known as Mikawomma (from the railway line at Ovingham to Port Adelaide), are also shown. In summer, the bush turkey would frequent Mikawomma, looking for a mate. Two bush turkeys, a male and a female, are depicted on the smallest of the three panels, as well as the tracks of the animals, which the Kaurna people hunted as food.

The colour scheme of the artwork has also been carefully selected to reflect Blackfriars and the connection to Country. Rusted, weathered-steel panels, into which the design is cut, relate to the earth and ancient culture. Light blue peeks out from the voids in the laser-cut design, the colour reflecting the blue of the Blackfriars school logo. The back panels also link back to the school’s colour scheme. Over time, the panels will rust, transforming into a brilliant orange, before softening to brown.

The artwork was designed to connect people to Country and provide a sense of place – to give Aboriginal people a sense of inclusion, safety, belonging and wellbeing, and, for non-Aboriginal people, an appreciation of whose Country they are on.