Watercolour trail - Our campus Indigenous Heritage

For more than 21,000 years the First Peoples of this continent have been the custodians of the Country within which there are now ANU campuses. Their connections to this Country remain strong.

In the area where the main ANU campus is located in the city of Canberra, first hand accounts of the cultural significance of this region – and in particular the Acton area – are told today by Elders and custodians including those from Ngunawal/Ngunnawal, Ngambri and Ngairu.

The above watercolour piece by Nadia Hooton was created to function as part of the ANU Heritage Trail Map with the intention of illustrating a sense of the Country on which the campus resides. The flow of blue water depicts a more natural form prior to the damming of Molonglo River to create Lake Burley Griffin and the rerouting of Sullivan's Creek in the 1960s.

Learn more

• Download the ANU Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Trail brochure (PDF 6.5 Meg)
• Ngunawal elder Wally Bell and senior knowledge holder Tyronne Bell describe our campus' Indigenous history (ANU Reporter)
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage trail (ANU Heritage web page)
• Download the ANU Walks app
  • Apple IOS
  • Android OS

Thanks to Nadia Hooton and ANU Heritage for the use of this artwork.