"Hundreds of thousands" have already gathered together at Berninneit
THE Bass Coast Shire Council might be in a sticky predicament when it comes to achieving Passivhaus accreditation for the Cowes Cultural Centre.
But there’s no denying the process which delivered a local Boon Wurrung language name for the facility, according to the Geospatial Council of Australia which awarded the Bass Coast Shire Council a Victorian Excellence In Place Naming award for the Berninneit Community Centre naming proposal.
The award was announced last Friday, August 9 at the annual Victorian Geospatial Excellence awards held at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Mayor, Cr Clare Le Serve acknowledged the fantastic work done by council staff and community through engagement with this naming process. Over 700 local residents responded to this consultation process.
They were offered a choice of names provided by the Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BLCAC) as First Nations naming options for the building. They were:
- Barmewoon Meaning: Only My Strength
- Mogarmarlarly Murk Meaning: Lead Me
- Berninneit Meaning: Gather Together
- Kummargee Meaning: Rise Up.
“This was an excellent project with a strong community consultation particularly in managing timelines to ensure the name was available at the time of the opening of Berninneit” said Cr Le Serve.
“We would like to thank everyone who contributed to the options of naming of this cultural masterpiece and especially our thanks go to the local traditional owners, the Bunurong people for their contributions and collaborations on this important piece of work”.
On accepting this award, Bass Coast Shire Council CEO Greg Box said that Berninneit, which means ‘gather together’ in Bunurong language has certainly proven to live up to its name in the numbers that have gathered there for a broad range of events
He went on to claim that the Cowes Cultural Centre has already “hosted hundreds of thousands of people already” at a myriad shows and performances, exhibitions, community events and through the library.
That would indicate that more than 200,000 people have so far attended events at Berninneit.
“This has been exemplified over the last eight months with thousands of people gathering for amazing cultural activity in this space,” Mr Box said.
The redevelopment of the former Cowes cultural and community centre involved replacing the existing centre, to bring together the cultural and social aspirations of the community and draw visitors in to showcase the history and culture of the region. The new facility will encourage a range of community activities and events.
However, while Berninneit won the popular vote among the four Boon Wurrung language names put up by the council, a more obvious option came out on top in a local survey.
Local community group, Island Voice ran its own survey in which 'Phillip Island Cultural Centre' came out as clear winner with 34% of the votes and with Millowl Cultural Centre as second preference with 20.6% of the votes.
