{"id":4380,"date":"2022-12-08T16:23:01","date_gmt":"2022-12-08T05:23:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/?p=4380"},"modified":"2026-05-12T14:51:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-12T04:51:34","slug":"celebrating-the-opening-of-marrang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/celebrating-the-opening-of-marrang\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating the opening of our dedicated space for First Nations community"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week the Library have officially opened a dedicated space for First Nations students, staff and the wider community. Named <\/span>Marrang<\/span><\/i>, a Kirrae Whurrong\u00a0word meaning \u2018great meeting place\u2019, the room is located in the Warrnambool Campus Library and is intended as a space for work, study, meetings and more.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The room was officially opened on Wednesday, with an event featuring a Welcome to Country and smoke ceremony performed by local Gunditjmara and Kirrae Whurrong man Lee Morgan. Morgan also led the audience in a rendition of his original \u2018Reconciliation Song<\/a>\u2019.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Local

Local Gunditjmara and Kirrae Whurrong man Lee Morgan performs a smoke ceremony during the event.<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

\u2018This is a community space,\u2019 said Tom Molyneux, a Gunditjmara man and Deakin\u2019s Manager of Indigenous Inclusion. \u2018It happens to sit on Deakin\u2019s campus, but this is also ancient Country. We hope the community feels welcome here, whether you are a Deakin student or staff member or not.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Gunditjmara

Gunditjmara and Kirrae Whurrong man Lee Morgan, a Gunditjmara man and Deakin\u2019s Manager of Indigenous Inclusion Tom Molyneux, and Peek Whurrong Elder Uncle Rob Lowe pictured in the newly opened space.<\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

The event was attended by a mix of Deakin staff and the local community, including Peek Whurrong Elder Uncle Rob Lowe. Deakin\u2019s Warrnambool Campus Director Alistair McCosh spoke of the vision of this space to bring First Nations people, particularly youth, onto campus. \u2018We want to work in collaboration with our community on how to best use this safe and inclusive space and explore what opportunities we can offer,\u2019 he said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"University

University Librarian Hero McDonald speaks during the launch event, alongside Gunditjmara man and Deakin’s Manager of Indigenous Inclusion Tom Molyneux. <\/i><\/p><\/div>\n

Deakin\u2019s University Librarian Hero Macdonald spoke of libraries as places of \u2018discovery, connection, ideas and culture\u2019. Being located in the Library, they hope that Marrang will support greater connections with community, and encourage engagement with Deakin Library\u2019s rich cultural heritage collections for the benefit of community. Visitors on campus are welcome to explore the Library\u2019s collection and get expert research advice from the Librarians, with free community memberships available.<\/span><\/p>\n

The creation of this space is aligned with Deakin Library’s strategic goal<\/a> of advancing human-centred and inclusive knowledge systems and spaces. Our hope is to offer something similar at each of our campus locations \u2013 so watch this space in 2023.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week the Library have officially opened a dedicated space for First Nations students, staff and the wider community. Named Marrang, a Kirrae Whurrong\u00a0word meaning \u2018great meeting place\u2019, the room is located in the Warrnambool Campus Library and is intended as a space for work, study, meetings and more.\u00a0 The room was officially opened on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24799,"featured_media":7401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25,15,60],"tags":[23,181,48,85],"class_list":["post-4380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-library-facilities","category-news","tag-event","tag-first-nations","tag-indigenous-perspectives","tag-warrnambool-campus-library"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/326\/2022\/12\/Marrang-banner.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pao1A6-18E","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24799"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4380"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7402,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4380\/revisions\/7402"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.deakin.edu.au\/article\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}