Long-awaited sculptures at the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre will be unveiled at the end of this month.
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The expansion of the Dreaming Centre is nearing completion and a date for the community celebration has now been set.
It will all be revealed on November 30 and all community members are welcome.
Workmen have been busy down at the end of the lake, footings for sculpture and story poles are now in place along the walkway.
A series of “story poles”, a collaboration between Forbes’ Rosie Johnston and Peak Hill-based Indigenous artist Sauce Towney, are being installed in the next two weeks.
The feature piece, a bronze sculpture by Brett Mon Garling, will be unveiled on the night.
The sculpture and story poles form the start of the Somewhere Down the Lachlan Sculpture Trail and the project has been years in the making.
The trail, which includes the big red “amazing” and more to come along the Lachlan River, has been long planned as a tourist attraction for the region.
Since the launch in 2014, the project has seen a number of sculptures installed in Forbes’ central business district, Albion Park and along the lake walkway.
Forbes Art Society’s Dr Keith Mullette says there’s no better place for the trail to start than the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre.
“The trail follows the stock route, which follows the Indigenous trading route, or songline,” he said.
The route was called a songline, Dr Mullette explained, because song was used to remember and share the way the travellers needed to go. It was a verbal map for the Indigenous people of the area.
As well as unveiling the sculpture, the upcoming celebration marks the completion of expansions at the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre.
There’s a new building for workshops and art display, and a new space for school students to gather and learn about Indigenous culture.
It has been more than three years since the Art Society applied for the grant, two years of work since their success was announced.
That work is now almost complete, with an arbor around the new building and toilets among the final stages of the promised upgrades for the complex.
The celebration starts at 6pm on November 30 at the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre, on Lower Hill Street on Lake Forbes.