Fate of Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre revealed as closure prepares for handover to Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-op
Words by Staff Writer
In a now-deleted post to Facebook yesterday, the owners announced Narana's immediate closure, however overnight the fate of the cultural centre has been revealed.
Narana’s doors have been closed to the public after 28 years in preparation for handover to the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative.
The closure announcement came as a shock to the community with outpours of support from followers across the social media post. The original post read, “We thank every one of our loyal customers for your support over the past 28 years it has not gone unnoticed. But unfortunately, we are now here to announce that Narana will not be open to the public.”
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The Uniting Church Australia will be in the process of handing over to the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operation with the acquisition negotiations already having taken six months.
Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operation have released a statement to inform the community of the Narana’s future operations, with a commitment to continued knowledge and cultural sharing.
It read, “Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative has been made aware of a social media post put out on Tuesday evening announcing the sudden closure of Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre (Narana).
Narana has been owned and operated by the Uniting Church in Australia (Uniting Church) for the past 28 years, and for the past six months Wathaurong has been in good faith negotiations with Uniting Church about a commercial arrangement to purchase the property and take over the ownership and operations, to finally put this Aboriginal Cultural Centre in the hands of the Aboriginal Community.
It is disappointing that this exciting announcement of an Aboriginal Cultural Centre being placed into Aboriginal community hands has been pre-empted with negative social media comments and confusion within both the Aboriginal community and the wider community who have enjoyed visiting the space over the years.”
“This is an opportunity for us as an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation to now be able to lead a cultural healing and education space in a location that has become widely known as a place for people to learn about Aboriginal culture. This space will now directly benefit our Aboriginal community with the ownership and management being with Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative.”
Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative has a view of reopening Narana Aboriginal Cultural Centre in the coming months with further details to be release on dates and celebrations.
If you would like to continue the support of the Aboriginal Cultural Healing & Education space, you can make tax deductible donation via the Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative website at https://wathaurong.org.au/donate/
