Walgett Wirringgaa Jewellery Project

Australian Design Centre partnered with Indigenous Jewellery Project’s Emily McCulloch Childs and contemporary jeweller, Melinda Young and Yuwaalaraay sisters Lucy and Nardi Simpson on a week of workshops in the regional NSW town of Walgett. 

This project was funded by Create NSW to introduce local artists and makers to jewellery making techniques with a focus on building skills, learning and making.

 Walgett Wirringaa, Yinnar and Miyay local women and girls were invited to participate in four days of jewellery making and 21 people attended and worked with natural materials to learn techniques including; weaving and coiling, bush string making, air-dry clay bead making, working with ochre to paint clay, using seed or nut beads, beading with quandong, using casuarina or flowering gum to make earrings, necklaces and bracelets, working with emu feathers, wood, opal chips and scale. The group was intergenerational, including young women to elders with a group of local school children participating in a weaving and necklace making workshop.

These workshops created a meeting place for many women to reconnect and catch up, and offered an opportunity for local women to learn new skills and support the community at large. Interest in future workshops and a continuation of the project was expressed by many of the artists involved.

Images: Lucy Simpson, Melinda Young and the Indigenous Jewellery Project