Holding Ground: A conversation on gums, adaption and resilience
A conversation on gums, adaption and resilience
What can the gum tree tell us about care, adaptation and resilience in an era of rapid ecological change?
Join curator of Ngarn Wa’ngal: Art of the Gum Tree, Alisa Bunbury for a conversation with weaver and Cultural Fire practitioner Tammy Gilson, urban ecologist Dr Dave Kendal, and cultural ranger and storyteller Jakobi exploring the evolving relationships between eucalypts, people and Country.
Together they will draw on cultural knowledge, ecological research and lived practice to consider the journey of the eucalypt across landscapes and generations, the role of fire and land management, and how we might respond to a changing climate.
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Image credit: Installation view of Ngarn Wa’ngal: Art of the gum tree, Potter Museum of Art, the University of Melbourne, 2026. Featuring Nikki Browne, STOP KILLING COUNTRY 2022, courtesy of the artist. Photography by Gregory Lorenzutti.
Presenters
Tammy Gilson
Tammy Gilson is a Wadawurrung woman and cultural fire practitioner who’s love for weaving and natural dyes is guided by connection to family, Country, language, plants and animals. Tammy is a multi-award-winning artist, having exhibited internationally and locally, Tammy embraces a lived experience to strengthen and sustain cultural practice. Tammy’s work aims to inspire and bridge traditional knowledge and contemporary expression, creating a powerful narrative to be celebrated.
Dr Dave Kendal
After careers as an academic, landscape planner, software engineer and noise maker, Dave started Future in Nature in 2022 to have a greater impact on nature-related policy and programs in Australia and around the world. He helps cities and botanic gardens to adapt landscapes to climate change, enable biodiversity to thrive, and to develop our ecological, social and cultural relationships with nature. He has been an adviser to local, state, and federal governments in Australia, and the European Commission, and has worked as an academic at universities across Australia including, now, the University of Melbourne.
Jakobi Ili-Jakobi
Jakobi is a Djab Wurrung and Dhauwurd Wurrung man, cultural ranger, and storyteller with over eight years of experience, collaborating with Traditional Owners and First Peoples throughout Melbourne in cultural education and tourism. He is an Aboriginal Learning Officer at the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and is studying Plant Science (B-SCIEXTD) at the University of Melbourne. His passion for storytelling embeds cultural knowledge and the connection to Country as an avenue to link his audience to landscapes and waterways.
Alisa Bunbury
Alisa Bunbury is Senior Curator, Grimwade Collection at the Potter Museum of Art and has previously worked as a curator at the National Gallery of Victoria and Art Gallery of South Australia. She often works with colonial art history and seeks to contribute to a deeper understanding of Australia's complex past.
Event info and access
Bookings are required, with capacity limits applying to the event.
This event will take place in the Primrose Potter Studio on Level 1 of the Potter Museum of Art.
Please note that this event will include discussions about colonisation, climate change, environmental damage and destruction.
This event is fully seated with infrared hearing assistance available in this space.
Auslan interpretation can be booked on request. Please contact mc-publicprograms@unimelb.edu.au by Wednesday 9 September.
Please visit our accessibility page for additional information about the Potter Museum of Art.
For further access requests or queries regarding this event contact mc-publicprograms@unimelb.edu.au.
Supporters
Supported by the Russell and Mab Grimwade Miegunyah Fund, Eucalypt Australia, and Bosistos
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
