Aboriginal Culture, Heritage
& Arts Association of NSW

Beside the heritage listed fish traps

The Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum stands on a site of great significance to Aboriginal people in the northwest of New South Wales for tens of thousands of years. A place of gathering, sharing and trading for up to eight different Aboriginal Nations.

The Museum is situated beside the heritage listed fish traps, said to be more than 40,000 years old. The fish traps are a manmade structure situated at the northwest corner of the township below the rock bar lying across Gurrunga, the large waterhole.

These fish traps are a part of maintaining our culture, strength and resilience. Since 2015, the Baiame’s Ngunnhu Festival, an annual event the Cultural Museum is involved in, brings lifeblood back to the Ngemba, Baranbinja, Morowari, Kula, Laualko, Ualarai, Kamilaroi, Kamu and Paarkinji nations.

It was the late Les Darcy, a Murrarri man from Brewarrina, who dreamed of building a Keeping Place. His desire was that the stories, connections of land and people not diminish. He imagined a space that would share culture, storytelling, linking families, language and the continual gatherings of Aboriginal Peoples. His dream started to become reality in 1988 with funding from the Australia Council for the Arts. What emerged was a free-form curvilinear, constructed as a series of domes, landscaped with shrubs, native to the area. The earth covered Museum blends into the landscape like the Gunya, the ancient shelter.

Then in 1996, a second Dome opened, known as Dome 2 – Retail Building, to sell works from local artists and share our culture and history through art.

Since the opening of the Museum in 1988, the Museum has had turnovers of management, leading it to open and close on several occasions throughout the years and up until 2012.

The forming of the new Board and Staff has kept the Museum gracefully running, through the continued great efforts to keep our place of importance on its feet. In 2017 the Brewarrina Aboriginal Cultural Museum made its way to becoming its own corporate entity; Brewarrina Aboriginal Corporation, established under the CATSI Act.

Brewarrina Aboriginal Corporation continues its daily cultural tours for all government agencies entering the township, visitors to the town and most importantly the Aboriginal people who connect to the region. We continuing to build relationships and connections to nearby organisations for support and guidance in sharing our heritage. We also form meaningful relationships and give importance to our local artists to share their stories and art, to display our connection to culture and keep our culture alive and thriving.

The museum is self-funded. Tours are conducted of the fish traps so visitors can learn about the historical and cultural significance of the fish traps, regional Dreamtime, tribal language, local culture, the impact of European settlement and cultural artefacts. The Museum also stocks a range of local paintings, crafts, hand crafted cultural objects and books, All such items are sourced, purchased or consigned from local or regional Aboriginal groups or individuals. All proceeds raised by the organisation are reinvested back into the Museum, to support its ongoing operation. The Museum overlooks the fish traps with a magical view of the Barwon River. It's a great place to relax while enjoying a picnic or sampling a coffee from our gift shop.