Story: The Kodja Place Cultural Centre
Episode: 4
Presenter: Angie Ayers
Air Date: 4th September 2022
Kojonup, a tight knit, culturally diverse community that’s the gateway to the Great Southern region. Founded in 1837, Kojonup’s indigenous history dates back tens of thousands of years, Angie gets shown through this incredible town with the marvellous Billy Riley!
- Local Kaneang Elder and tour guide, Billy Riley takes us through the Kodja Place Cultural Centre.
- Kodja Place Cultural Centre is the heart of the local community filled with the town’s rich heritage.
- Culturally diverse and inclusive the town is named after the ‘’Kodj’’ or stone axe and has been home to the Kanang Noongar people for at lease 6,000 years.
- Billy Riley guides you on a journey in time through the Kodje Gallery, serving Billy tea and damper around the fire in Mia Mia’s
- You won’t want to miss the fun in getting lost in The Australian Rose Maze and be sure to enjoy lunch in the Black Cockatoo Café courtyard.
- Kojonup offers visitors and historians a wealth of traditional sites and old settler buildings to explore.
- The spring, which has sustained life in this beautiful shire for thousands of years, and the Barracks which one of the oldest surviving buildings in WA are just two historical sites to see.
- The historical trail will have you seeing sites such as Elvred’s Cottage, the Old Post Office, and Memorial Hall, as well as the rich and diverse flora and fauna of the Myrtle Benn Sanctuary.
- While the local history here is of course hard to hear, the truth behind it and passion from the Kodja centre make sure it is told the right way.
- Billy and Angie discuss how we get the wheel turning for our cultures to come together, making the point that talking, having the conversation, and coming together is a good way forward.
- The Aboriginal language in schools, is also a great step in the right direction, we’ll leave you with this, Heart in Noongar is Koort, make sure your heart is in a good place!
For more information:
kodjaplace.com.au
