This powerful exhibition honours our women from many clan groups and Nations.
Women who carry ancient traditions forward through their craft and boldly express contemporary culture using fibres and fur.
The new exhibition, Our Women, Our Strength, is a powerful celebration of the resilience, creativity, and cultural knowledge of Aboriginal women from diverse clan groups and Nations. This inspiring collection shines a spotlight on the women who continue to carry ancient traditions forward while boldly expressing contemporary identity through their craft.
Across Aboriginal communities, women have long held the role of cultural custodians—storytellers, weavers, artists, and knowledge holders. This exhibition honours those women who, through their hands and hearts, breathe life into traditional practices using natural materials such as fibres, fur, and native plant life. Through weaving, crafting, and the creation of intricate objects, these women preserve cultural knowledge passed down through countless generations.
Our Women, Our Strength also reflects the dynamic ways in which culture continues to evolve. Many of the works on display blend traditional techniques with contemporary artistic expression, speaking to the strength, adaptability, and creativity of Aboriginal women today. Each piece tells a story—not just of the land and the ancestors, but of the ongoing journey of identity, resilience, and survival.
Visitors to the exhibition are invited to connect with the stories behind the works, to learn about the cultural significance of materials and techniques, and to reflect on the vital role women play in maintaining and revitalising culture. From delicately woven baskets to bold contemporary pieces, the exhibition captures the spirit, strength, and enduring presence of Aboriginal women across generations.
Our Women, Our Strength is more than an exhibition; it is a tribute to the women who carry culture, nurture community, and inspire the next generation. It is a call to recognise, respect, and celebrate the unbroken lines of knowledge, artistry, and strength that flow through Aboriginal women’s hands and hearts.
For thousands of years, possum skin cloaks have held deep cultural, spiritual, and practical significance for Aboriginal people across south-eastern Australia, including the Yorta Yorta Nation and surrounding Nations along the Murray River.
These cloaks were handcrafted from sewn-together possum pelts, softened with great care and skill. Each one told a personal and communal story—etched and burnt with traditional designs, clan symbols, totems, maps of Country, and the marks of life journeys. They were worn for warmth and protection, used in ceremony, and wrapped around both newborns and Elders, forming part of the great circle of life.
In Yorta Yorta Country and other regions, Aboriginal women traditionally carried babies using fibre or animal-skin slings worn across the body — practical for movement and daily life. But possum skin cloaks were also used to wrap babies for warmth, comfort and spiritual protection, especially during rest, sleep, or ceremony.
Some cloaks included a sewn-in pouch or flap to cradle the baby, offering not only physical care but deep cultural meaning — wrapping the child in love, Country, and community from their earliest days.
More than just garments, possum skin cloaks are living histories. Each stitch and design carry ancestral knowledge, memory, and cultural identity. Their revival today reflects resilience, pride, and the strength of spirit that continues across generations.
