Cornucopia Living Heritage Centre
The Living Heritage Centre houses the Cornucopia Australis exhibition. The exhibition, developed over many years, provides a fascinating insight into Australia’s rich environmental and cultural history. Consisting of interpretive panels and artefacts, the exhibition takes visitors on a journey through Australia’s environmental history from the time of Gondwana to the 60,000 years of continuous occupation of this ancient continent by Aboriginal people to today.
The exhibition includes a mural by Aboriginal artists, Jenny Murray-Jones and Eileen Harrison. It graphically depicts the deep connection of Aboriginal culture with the natural environment as a cornucopia sustaining and nourishing generations. In contrast, waves of colonial emigrants brought a different world view, seeing the environment as a resource to be exploited, rather than sustained. Severe environmental consequences followed. As a result, Australia has one of the highest rates of species extinction in the world.
In the haste to create an essentially Eurocentric view of cornucopia, the new residents of this land remained largely ignorant of the natural abundance sustained by Aboriginal culture. Central to this cornucopia, are the 6000 edible species of native plants which we are only now gaining the recognition they deserve. Tours of the exhibition are part of the regular Tour and Taste events conducted by Peppermint Ridge Native Foods.
The exhibition centre is on Bunurong land and we pay our respect to elders past and present.