‘Ngalambay’ by Maddison Gibbs and Danielle Mate

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Located at Bradbury Underpass (corner Moore-Oxley and Camden Road)

Ngalambay is an immersive portal through time and space linking Water, Mother and Country.

The artwork honours Campbelltown’s Minerva Billabong, a sacred Dharawal women’s business and birthing site, and Aunty Kay Bussell who shared Traditional Water Cleansing Ceremony with the Campbelltown Community.

Ngalambay features painting, lighting, mirrors and landscaping. Footprints from Dharawal’s totem, the Lyrebird, guide the way to the tunnel mouth where cave painting splatters and swirling gum leaf ancestors cleanse you, inside the tunnel are rippling lights and patterns poised between outward connection and inner reflection, restoring your journey back toward the light.

Ngalambay was developed in close collaboration with Aboriginal women from the Dharawal community. Likewise, the ripple motif was directly inspired from Minerva’s pool.


Commissioned by Campbelltown City Council, 2024. Proudly funded by the NSW Government, Places to Love Program. Fabricated by Curio Projects. With special thanks to Aunty Annette Houston, Aunty Doris Williams, Aunty Karen Austin, Aunty Karen Beetson, Aunty Michelle Hailes, Tina Taylor, Jason Wing,Aunty Glenda Chalker and Jo Tanginoa for their contributions.