With great pride, Sydney Fish Market presents our inaugural Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). 

Sydney Fish Market is proud to be dedicating ourselves wholeheartedly to Reconciliation; this document is just the beginning of our long term commitment to meaningful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations.

 

 

"Sydney’s many coastal coves and harbour inlets were home to the Gadigal for thousands of years. Our people, known for having a unique and exquisitely practical method of moving from one fixed address to another in order to ensure a sustainable practice of food procurement, camped in the area known as Blackwattle Bay. This bay was where the fresh water met the saltwater of the harbour. The swamp lands around Glebe would empty out into the bay. It is likely that eel or Barra found their way to this place during big rains and we know the Gadigal had this beautiful Ngura as a camp and place of shelter and safety.

It was, however, the British that named this cove after the endemic species of Wattle (Arcadia Mernsii) commonly known as Blackwattle. This native species is a hard wood and excellent for making furniture. The Gadigal used the sap mixed with water to make a sweet lemony cordial for a refreshing drink during the warmer summer months.

This painting, Yilabara wala (pron. ile-bar-ra wela), is my homage to both the old and new Blackwattle Bay. I have used cartography maps from the early Sydney colonial settlement with narrative from early colonial diaries to mark key sites around the cove as inspiration for this work. This has then been overlayed with the information from modern day mapping of the area to create a record of the old and new in one single body of work."
 

—​ Konstantina (Kate Constantine)

 

Thank you to our partners, without whom the development of our first Reconciliation Action Plan would not have been possible.

 

TRIBAL WARRIOR

Tribal Warrior is a not-for-profit community organisation with a vision of revitalising Aboriginal culture through economic and social stability. Through a range of activities, they empower their local community through connection to culture and family.

 

 

NATIONAL INDIGENOUS CULINARY INSTITUTE

The National Indigenous Culinary Institute (NICI) supports young Aboriginal chefs through their apprenticeships, and helps establish and support their career pathways.