Previously set aside as meeting rooms, volunteers have been busy converting the spaces into exhibition areas, with one dedicated to the ongoing display of Aboriginal artworks, artefacts and crafts.

The arts council wanted to acknowledge and raise awareness about the strong Aboriginal background and presence in the Wollombi area.

Wollombi has been and still is an Aboriginal meeting place for people far and wide.

Nearby Mount Yengo has for tens of thousands of years been a place for many different peoples to gather, trade, dance and sing together, share stories, share knowledge, and ultimately to do Ceremony together. 

Arts council volunteers said this brings life to the cultural centre’s founding intent, which, among other things, was to support a continuing and vital Aboriginal artistic and cultural presence.

The exhibition, which will run for the month of February, will feature work from at least 10 Aboriginal artists both locally and from other areas including the Blue Mountains.

Some artists will be displaying work for the very first time while others have featured in numerous exhibitions including Andy Snelgar (Niompa) who is an artist-in-residence at the NSW Art Gallery.

Snelgar will assist in curating the show, along with Justin Majid (Torres Strait Islands).

Shane Smithers (Dharug), Davinder Hart (WA), Cessnock’s Aunty Clare Moran (a Dabee elder) and others will be contributing paintings and woodwork.

The second new room will be a part of this exhibition, but in future will provide artists with an opportunity to display smaller exhibitions as the centre’s Old Fire Shed Gallery is booked out all year.

The exhibition will open at 6pm Friday with a smoking ceremony and dance welcome by the Wakagetti Dancers (lately of Uluru), Stuart McMinn (Dharug/ Wakawaka) and others.