Lake Macquarie Council to launch Aboriginal Community Plan and unveil Awaba House mosaic

newy.com.au – Lake Macquarie City Council will launch its Aboriginal Community Plan 2025-2029, Bayikulinan (to act in the future), and unveil a new mosaic outside Awaba House on Saturday 14 February 2026.

The council said the plan was designed to provide a stronger voice for the Aboriginal community and work to improve overall health and wellbeing, with the launch timed to coincide with the unveiling of a new artwork by a local Aboriginal women’s art group.

Lake Macquarie Mayor Adam Shultz said the plan, developed with the Aboriginal community, showed the council’s commitment to support equal access to services and create a place where cultural identity was embraced and celebrated. “Together they show what is possible when culture, community, policy and art walk side by side,” he said.

The plan sets out four objectives, including building cohesion while addressing discrimination and racism, providing culturally safe and appropriate services, creating employment opportunities, and involving Aboriginal people in decisions that affect them.

Shultz said the plan included a list of actions aimed at achieving those goals, ranging from cultural awareness training for council staff and the wider community to hosting wellbeing programs tailored for the Aboriginal community.

“With more than 11,700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people calling Lake Macquarie home, Council has a responsibility to nurture, honour and share the deep cultural knowledge and heritage across our city,” he said.

The new mosaic, titled Wreath of Nikinpa, features a wreath of painted gum leaves surrounding the words “Care, Healing, Connection”, with the council describing it as a colourful addition outside the upgraded Awaba House.

Nikinpa Art Group facilitator Bonnie Simon said the artwork was intended as a place for Aboriginal people and the wider community to visit, reflect and connect with the environment around them. “You can look at it in a lot of different ways, but it is a celebration of life,” she said.

The plan launch and artwork unveiling will begin at 10am with a smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country, followed by speeches by the artists and a morning tea and gumleaf painting workshop at the Museum of Art and Culture, yapang.