This year for our Indigenous Nationals uniforms, we were incredibly lucky to have one of our very own JCU students design the art. Grace Andrews is a proud Gunai Kurnai woman from Deniliquin NSW and a 1st year Psychological Sciences student.
Grace shared her process, inspiration and story behind the design.
"After consultation with Traditional owner Uncle Eddie Savage, I knew that I wanted to centre the artworks around the main concepts of the stars and constellations as well as the brolga," said Grace.
She incorporated symbols and imagery important to the Bindal people, to honor the traditional owners of the land on which the University sits.
"The totem of the local Bindal people is the Dancing Brolga, so I wanted to incorporate this as a main design."
Another important symbol for the Bindal people is the shooting star.
"They believe that wherever the star fell, or the direction the star fell meant there was either danger coming or someone from that direction was in need of help or in danger. My designs feature a number of different constellations and stars to represent this essential symbol in their storylines."
The front of the polo shirt also incorporates important symbolism and themes.
"I also included a large meeting place in the centre of the art extending to a scar tree and water way symbols, representing connection, culture and the land in which surrounds us."
We'd like to thank Grace for her incredible work and for sharing her art and stories with us. Our Indigenous Nationals team will be proudly wearing these uniforms at the competition in Wollongong July 23 - 27. We wish them the best of luck!