Sullivan’s Creek celebrates Ngunnawal connection

Posted on 21 August, 2025

You may see some bright murals snaking their way around the Turner section of Sullivan’s Creek as part of a new activation celebrating Ngunnawal-led water knowledge, public art, song, and film.

The project is called Watermarks and is an Indigenous journey honouring water, culture, and connection. Over the past few years, Ngunnawal custodians from several families have come together to share the water stories that flow through Sullivans Creek – stories of care, memory, and Country. These stories have been transformed into a song, a film, and public artworks, inviting the wider community to listen, learn, and walk in relationship with the living waters of Ngunnawal Country.

At its heart is the Ngunnawal Dry Creek Bed, a living demonstration of Ngunnawal water management practices—what Ngunnawal knowledge holders call slow water, a relational approach that lets water move, soak, and sustain life. This sits in contrast to the fast water systems of Western design, where concrete drains channel and control the flow.
For Canberrans who walk, ride or drive by the installation, it is a chance to reflect on the land, and its connection to something far older than being chosen as the nation’s capital city and having urban services installed.

Designed and led by a Ngunnawal Women’s Group, the space centres women’s deep relationships with waterways and the plants that provide medicine, food, and materials.

Through Ngunnawal‑led water story gatherings, members from several Ngunnawal clans shared stories that inspired the Ngunnawal Song and the Watermarks public artwork. Each aspect of the project highlights Ngunnawal leadership and expertise—in design, storytelling and knowledge, songwriting, facilitation, production, and artistic expression. Together, Watermarks embodies what it means to walk in relationship with Country.

On 5 September, a Watermarks community event will include the showing of a documentary Watermarks: Ngunnawal Voices – a film that follows the creation of the Dry Creek Bed, song, and public artworks, celebrating Ngunnawal leadership and the deep relationship between people, Country, and water.

The event will also include a tour of the Dry Creek Bed Installation – a gathering place for community, with a fire circle and shade structure designed for cultural use and ecological restoration.
A large-scale snake design and Ngunnawal song lyrics are etched and painted onto the concrete drains of Sullivan’s Creek. The work transforms the fast-water, hard-surface drains into a site of living Country design, connecting the creek back to story and community – a living song line.

The event will also include the performance of original song Dirana (Waterways) – written and performed by Ngunnawal songwriter Alinta Barlow, featuring the voices of Wally Bell and other Ngunnawal community members. The song honours the ongoing flow of water and story across generations.
The opening is free and all are welcome to the Bent Street Turner location.