Despite the onset of European colonisation and their irreversible changes to the landscape, the Wurundjeri people have walked the same paths on this Country in Naarm for millennia.

To the Wurundjeri their Country is called biik in the woi wurrung language, and biik plays a central, pivotal role in their identity. Combining the words wurun (the ‘Manna’ or ‘White Gum’) and djeri (meaning ‘grub’) the Wurundjeri peoples of the regional district that includes modern day Naarm (Melbourne) are therefore known as the ‘Witchetty Grub People’.

The significance of biik is found in every aspect of Wurundjeri culture and daily life. The landscape itself even divides the Wurundjeri into four recognised clans. Aboriginal Languages Victoria identifies these clans as – Gunung Willam Balug the ‘creek dwelling people’; the Kurung Jang Balug translating to ‘red ground people’; the Marin Balug, being ‘Marin people’ (derived from Mare.ing.alk ‘at the big water, the Saltwater River’); And the Wurundjeri Balug, being the ‘white gum tree people’.

For Wurundjeri identifying artists participating in The Torch program, the landscape, their biik, dominates their artworks. The seven seasons, the Creation stories of Bunjil (the wedge-tailed eagle) and Waa (the raven or crow), ochre mines, bushfires, birds and mammals, as well as pathways and meeting places are all represented, celebrated, and continued. Their artwork connecting each artist to the land and the land to people; linking generations together, says Stephen N (Wurundjeri People) and ‘passing on stories and culture’. The art itself, states Narnz (Gunaikurnai/Barkindji/Wurundjeri/Bundjalung), helping them ‘to remember who I am and where I’ve come from’.