“These are the people who make us feel safe”: Building belonging through First Nations art and culture in Western Sydney

When Robyn moved to Western Sydney from the mid-north coast six years ago with her four children, she barely knew anyone. Originally from the Dunghutti mob in Kempsey, settling into a new place came with challenges—but it also opened up new opportunities.

One of the first spaces where she began to feel connected was the Willmot Community Hub, a project of Jesuit Social Services.

“I started feeling a lot more comfortable over time with people at the Hub by coming to the weekly community breakfast,” she says. “I’d start to meet friends there and we would just sit and yarn all morning. Now, anything to do with the Hub, we like to participate in it. My kids have been coming here since they were little, now they’re grown and still coming. It’s a part of our life now.”

“These are the people who make us feel safe.”

It was during one of these weekly gatherings that a new idea emerged—an Indigenous women’s art therapy group.

“We got with friends and family and we all started talking about what to do next,” Robyn recalls. “One day someone suggested we start an art group at the Hub. We just all wanted to sit together and be in a happy, safe and comfortable space… so we built that.”

Now running on a weekly basis, the art group has become a valued space of connection, cultural expression and healing. It brings together First Nations women from a range of communities, creating opportunities for knowledge-sharing and learning—whether that’s through artwork, jewellery making, or craft techniques unique to their own mobs.

“I didn’t normally do art before, but since I’ve started the art group I’ve felt really inspired,” Robyn says. “Then seeing the Indigenous Museum just made me think—this is something I really want to do. You get to see all different types of First Nations art and cultures.”

The group also organises cultural excursions, including a recent visit to the museum in Sydney. “It was the first time most of us had ever been there,” Robyn says. “We don’t often get to travel and do things like that.”

Some of Robyn’s work is now displayed around the Hub, alongside pieces created by others in her group and the Indigenous Men’s Art Group, which her husband participates in. Several large works have been created collaboratively, with input from both groups and other community members.

“It’s a time where you can just be yourself,” Robyn says. “We all support one another. There’s no talk of being behind or not being good enough—because of each other, we know we can do whatever it is. It’s the people around me that make me want to keep going.”

Delander, program coordinator of Western Sydney, says Robyn and her family have become central to the community.

“They come to almost every event we run. I think the only time they don’t attend is when they’re back in Kempsey,” she says.

“Robyn is a deeply valued and inspiring member of this community.”