Allwood Neighbourhood House Inc

19/06/2026

First Nations Friday - 18th June

Exploring the story of William Buckley, an escaped convict from the early 1800s, who walked right around Port Phillip Bay, often near death due to lack of food and water. And where the saying, "Buckley's Chance" (of survival!) comes from.

His journey took him to the custodial lands of the Wathaurong on the western side of the bay, and while on his last legs he came across a freshly dug mound of earth with a spear protruding on the surface. Taking the spear to assist with walking, he soon however collapsed from exhaustion, malnutrition and thirst only to be found by a group of native women collecting bountiful food that was unknown to the European pallet. Seeing the tall, white body, prostrate and holding the spear of a recently deceased warrior from their clan, the women believed they had seen a ghost. They rushed back to the men-folk of their camp.

The returning clan members were all in agreement that Buckley was the reincarnated warrior and addressed him by the warrior’s name. Believing Buckley's ignorance of their language, food and custom was as a result of him being reborn, a 'new-born' so to speak, they cared for him as one would a child until in time Buckley was a fully functioning, initiated member of their tribe both in language, custom and spirituality.

For almost 32 years William Buckley lived with the Wathaurong.

Read more:

Wominjeka fellow travellers, last weekend the road from Hurstbridge deep in Wurundjeri country led me to Point Lonsdale on the Bellarine Peninsula, the traditional lands of the Wathaurong (Wadawurrung), a confederate member of the Kulin nation. Their country encompasses central Victoria and the area...

18/06/2026

This good looking trio Pluck are coming back to their Allwood roots this Saturday night! 6-8pm inside the large main room & foyer since the weather is going to be shocking. We're excited for this special and intimate performance. Only 10 tickets left to receive a free meal with your $5 ticket! The last Tucker, Tunes & Trivia thanks to
Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/winter-warmer-pie-night

17/06/2026

We had a lovely morning with the Upper Murray Regional Neighbourhood House Network managers. Thank you for visiting us on your tour of the North East Neighbourhood House Network 🥰

Also, while the boss is away... Storytime Song and Dance class is disrupted by the staff having too much fun! No you can't come in kids 🙃😜Aren't you lucky to have a teacher like Rebecca Landy Creates?!

13/06/2026

Veggie pies, pasties and quiche from the bakery and live music from Pluck! Next Saturday night at Allwood House gardens. Our final Tucker, Tunes & Trivia night for the year! Saturday 20th June, 6-8pm; only $5pp (yes, ridiculous)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTxqInn6sko

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/winter-warmer-pie-night

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

12/06/2026

It’s Friday which means it’s First Nations Fridays at Allwood, where we seek to educate ourselves about the histories, cultures, and ongoing contributions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Visit to Coranderrk ...

"So many of the present Victorian Aboriginal population have a connection to Coranderrk by family association in the last century and it remains a special place of significant spiritual presence.

Walking amongst the grave markers and Manna gums in the cemetery at the end of Barak Lane in Healesville, one feels something greater than the usual sense of loss you feel in a graveyard. Standing in that sacred place with the ever-present commemorative stone to Barak, the “Last Chief of The Yarra Yarra Tribe of Aborigines and His Race”, I wondered: how much more sacred must this place be to our First People?

From 1860s-1920s at Coranderrk, Aboriginal people farmed the land, kept cattle and grew hops, whilst all the time being free to perform ceremony and fashion weapons and boomerangs as their ancestors had done.

It has been resurrected, with a smaller property now managed by the Wandoon Aboriginal Corporation. The land remains a bastion for the reclaiming of ancient cultural knowledge, revitalising waterways and teaching Indigenous cultural burning."

Read full post by historian David Kerrigan, and how to visit Coranderrk:

Wominjeka fellow travellers, last weekend being the Kings birthday, I decided to pay a visit to the grave of one of the crowns least respected subjects, the “last Chief of The Yarra Yarra Tribe of Aborigines” William Barak. Healesville is one of the most scenic towns in Victoria, nestled as it i...

05/06/2026

Happy Friday! Latest newsletter out now - We're Hiring! Last Tucker, Tunes & Trivia 20th June, and a few articles from First Nations Friday and The Seasons of Allwood Gardens. Enjoy! https://mailchi.mp/e5e1a9fef3fc/allwood-news-were-hiring

05/06/2026

We're hiring! Please share this new Marketing & Admin role with your networks, friends and family - this is a lovely opportunity for a creative and organised person with a knack for social media. Hours will be divided between Allwood Neighbourhood House Inc and Hurstbridge Village traders. Join a great team and village!

Allwood Neighbourhood House seeks a Marketing & Administration Officer to support community programs, events, communications, and local village promotion in Hurstbridge.

04/06/2026

Wominjeka fellow travellers, imagine if you will, a group of people who came to your house while you were out working, your personal effects were clearly on display, your photos, images of your life, tools and artifacts in the yard, fishing lines and your boat. Upon returning that evening, you find you are locked out of your home, your children are now hungry, you’re not able to get inside to get them dinner. You go to the authorities and they tell you they have no evidence of anyone living at that house, ever. A Casa Nullius so to speak (an empty house). Crazy idea? And yet this is what we as Australians were taught to believe, Terra Nullius, an empty country, right up until the 3rd of June 1992.

When Captain James Cook claimed the east coast of Australia for Britain in 1770, the British considered the Indigenous population of the country too “uncivilised” to hold legally recognised sovereignty or property rights. This self-serving opinion alone provided the legal justification to dispossess Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of their land and disregarded their existing laws, societal and political structures.

This doctrine remained the cornerstone of the British and Federal Administration of Australia, setting forth the cynical and unjust treatment of our First Peoples by giving cover in law to every dispossession, resettlement, assimilation attempt and force removal of children that subsequently transpired.

In 1981 Eddie Mabo, a lands rights activist from Murray Island in the Torres Straits, brought a case against the state of Queensland. He was seeking to revoke British inheritance laws and reinstate the native title laws held by his people to their own land on Murray Island. After a ten-year battle where the best legal minds in Australia were pitted against Mabo’s assertion of continuity of title, the case was decided in favour of Eddie Mabo and Murray Island. The law in effect, recognised for the first time since Captain Cook in 1770, that British occupation did not extinguish native Indigenous title and ownership of their land.

This week, Wednesday, being the 3rd of June and the 34th anniversary of that historic court ruling, we pay respect to Eddie Mabo, his family and those native peoples who are still fighting to overturn the historic and cataclysmic assertion of Terra Nullius, which perpetrated so much continuous pain and deprived a proud people of the way of life, their language, their culture and their home.

Always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land.

Wominjeka fellow travellers, imagine if you will, a group of people who came to your house while you were out working, your personal effects were clearly on display, your photos, images of your life, tools and artifacts in the yard, fishing lines and your boat. Upon returning that evening, you find....

04/06/2026

Super excited to host our last Tucker, Tunes and Trivia night on Saturday 20th June, with a celebration of guitar and string based music from around the world as played by Pluck! - a Naarm/Melbourne based trio comprising of Luke Andreas, Noah James, and Ryan Griffith 💛🫶🪕Hosted by

Bookings: https://events.humanitix.com/winter-warmer-pie-night