A reclaiming of Country at the Museum of the Great Southern in Kinjarling (Albany), working with the Traditional Custodians - the Menang Noongar People.

Reclaiming Kalyenup 2026

The Reclaiming Kalyenup project, initiated by the Museum of the Great Southern and a group of Menang Elders, aligns with ‘Albany 2026’, the 200 year marker of European settlement in Kinjarling (Albany), Western Australia.

Commemoration of this event is being extended to acknowledge and enliven the broader history of Kinjarling (Albany).

Through a process of open consultation with the Museum of the Great Southern and the Menang people, the project aims to re-balance the colonial-dominant narrative of place. In an act of Re-claiming, or Re-Indigenising, the site, each stage of the process will give agency to the strong Menang voice acknowledging them as the Traditional Custodians and ongoing carers of Kinjarling boodja.

With this intent, the project’s aim is to:

- Extend and share the continuing Menang culture beyond the walls of the museum, to its diverse range of visitors;

- To work as a bridge between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal cultures;

- To reclaim Country, where the Menang Community may freely connect and interpret, in their own ways, as determined by their own cultural needs, what it might become moving forward.

Project Team:

The Elders: Vernice Gillies, Lynette Knapp, Averil Dean, Lester Coyne, Dallas Coyne and other members of the Menang Community.

Commissioning Body: Museum of the Great Southern

Cultural Engagement + Architect: Simon Pendal Architect, Simon Pendal and Janine Moroney

Landscape: CAPA Studio

Cost Consultant: HW Associates

Electrical: Focus WA

Structural: Capital House Australasia