Bennelong bg

Understanding the life and legacy of Bennelong

City of Ryde

Heritage interpretation projects always come with a layer of sensitivity. These projects are very close to people’s hearts and, in the case of the Finding Bennelong website, to the cultural identity of the Indigenous community.

  • In this project
  • Heritage interpretation

  • Visual design

  • Interpretive films

  • Video + Animation

  • Interpretive collateral

  • Web development

  • Awards and recognition
  • 2014 Local Gov. Arts & Culture Awards and National Trust Heritage Awards

An engaging, thought provoking and culturally respectful website delivering multi-layered interpretation and education through videos, historic artworks and extensive research including links to primary sources.

A project like this is not just taking content and building a website around it – it is about establishing a process of consultation, examining extensive research, engaging stakeholders and the Aboriginal community, and then interpreting your findings to present an outcome all contributors are proud of.

Art of Multimedia led a team that included Archaeological Heritage and Management Solutions and 3D Projects, who brought additional Indigenous consultation, heritage and interpretive storytelling expertise.

The Finding Bennelong website was launched on the 200th anniversary year of Bennelong’s death, and Paul Graham, Acting Manager of Community and Culture from the City of Ryde Council, is thrilled with the final product and with the process taken to see it completed.

Bennelong ondevice

The website includes 15 videos that chronologically and thematically interpret the story of Bennelong to make the journey of his life accessible to all ages. There is much debate about the character of the man and through these videos, based upon the significant research of Historian Keith Vincent-Smith and drawing upon historic artwork, additional research, references and links to primary sources, the website visitor is able to draw their own conclusions.

Printed promotional material

We also created some off-line, printed promotional material for Ryde City Council to create awareness of the project.

The website

The final result is a polished, contemporary and engaging resource that we hope will prompt students and everyone who visits the website to form their own perspective of the legacy of Bennelong and consider the impact one individual can have on their world.

Other work
Let’s design with meaning together.