The new surf club was officially opened this month with a smoking ceremony by Umbarra man, Les McLeod and appropriately the surf club has incorporated aboriginal art into the design with shields in the columns outside the café and marine figures carved into the seating structures around the site reflecting and celebrating Indigenous connection to Country.
Artists Mick Glasheen and Leslie McLeod engaged with the local Aboriginal community and key stakeholders to develop designs based on the rock engravings of the Elvina Track and other sites in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park.
The designs incorporate shield designs and also figures of marine animals, which is then embedded into the concrete pillars and seating panels through three-dimensional cast moulds. The shield designs refer to scar trees, where wood for shields had been cut traditionally by Aboriginal people of the area.
Image: Courtesy Pittwater Online News
The shield design of the double white cross represents the markings of the traditional peoples, and these markings were painted on their shields, as well as on their bodies. The artists felt that the design was appropriate for the site not only for its connection to local Aboriginal cultural practices, which continue to this day, but also the shape of the shields is similar to the shape of a surfboard.
The new premises include a café and a restaurant plus all the usual facilities for the surf lifesaving club. It also features improved accessibility with a particular focus on minimising environmental impacts, such as the use of solar panels and recycling rainwater.
Feature Image: Smoking ceremony at Opening