arts

Welcome to Wurundjeri Country's transformed tram shelters nominated for City of Melbourne award

Jarred Cross Published October 29, 2025 at 1.55pm (AWST)

The project, delivered in a collaboration including Little Rocket, and featuring the artwork of five Wurundjeri artists, is a finalist at this year's Melbourne Awards. (Image: supplied)

In the Naarm CBD, embedded boldly in the infrastructure of one of the city's most iconic aspects, is a tribute to a history tens of thousands of years old.

From October last year, five tram shelters along Collins Street became the installation backdrop of artworks by five Wurunjeri artists in a project which 'redefined' how Indigenous culture can be celebrated through public spaces.

Welcome to Wurundjeri Country, featuring the work of Alex Kerr, Ash Firebrace, Coree Thorpe, Samantha Richards and Simone Thompson, has been announced as one of three finalists in the Aboriginal Melbourne ganbu guljin - 'One Mob' in Woi Wurrung language - at the 2025 Melbourne Awards.

Held by City of Melbourne, the eight-category awards, recognised contributions to the city's identity.

First Nations-owned and operated creative and marketing agency Little Rocket delivered Welcome to Wurundjeri Country in collaboration with Yarra Trams and the state Department of Transport and Planning.

"The project has been a really special initiative for the team to work on, to decolonise important public spaces and see the voices and stories of our First Peoples brought to the fore in such a beautiful installation," Little Rocket chief executive John Burgess.

The project, and tram shelter installations, will remain in the CBD for another two years.

*Welcome to Wurundjeri Country, is a three-year project first embedded into Naarm's infrastructure in 2024. (Image: supplied)*_

"These opportunities to showcase such important narratives through a transport medium have been rare to date. They provide a platform to share the ancient history of the Wurundjeri in an accessible way," Department of Transport and Planning executive director of First Peoples Self Determination & Reform Tim McCartney said of Welcome to Wurundjeri Country.

The artists involved are Alex Kerr (Wurundjeri), Ash Firebrace (Wurundjeri), Coree Thorpe (Wurundjeri, Yorta Yorta, Gunai Kurnai, Gunditjmara and Wemba Wemba), Samantha Richards (Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung), and Simone Thomson (Wurundjeri and Yorta Yorta).

Birrarangga Indigenous Film Festival and Ngarrindjeri woman Kimmie Lovegrove's comedy show Kungari Comedy are also finalists for ganbu guljin at the Melbourne Awards.