The Kulin Nation Project

The Kulin Nation Project

Melbourne United lives, works and plays on the lands of the Kulin Nation - an alliance of five groups: the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung, Dja Dja Wurrung, Taungurung and Wadawurrung peoples.

For NBL27, the club has brought all five groups together on one uniform for the first time. Rather than the usual approach of a single artist telling a single story, five artists — one from each part of the Kulin Nation — have each created a work in their own style, united under the KULIN wordmark. A first-of-its-kind for a professional sporting club in Narrm (Melbourne).

The uniform is only part of it. Guided by an Advisory Committee of Elders, artists and community leaders, the project also shares the stories behind the artwork and celebrates each of the five groups of the Kulin Nation — the people whose Country we all call home.

United will wear the uniform for the NBL Indigenous Round on Saturday 21 November at John Cain Arena against the New Zealand Breakers.

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The Kulin Nation is an alliance of five Aboriginal language groups whose Countries cover much of what is now central and southern Victoria: the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung, Boonwurrung, Taungurung, Dja Dja Wurrung and Wadawurrung peoples. Aboriginal people have lived on Kulin Country for tens of thousands of years. The Kulin Nation is not a thing of the past. Its Countries are cared for today by Traditional Owners, its languages spoken and revived, and its law and ceremony carried on by Elders and passed to each generation.

Uncle Ricky Baldwin - Gunai Kurnai

Uncle Ricky Baldwin is a proud Gunai Kurnai man and Koorie Academy founder and CEO, building cultural pride and opportunity for Indigenous youth through basketball.

A former NBL1 player, he coached Australia’s Indigenous Women’s team to international gold in 2019 and mentors Indigenous students as Elder in Residence at Monash University’s William Cooper Institute.

About Australia's 250+ languages (AIATIS)

First Nations names for major Australian cities

Wurundjeri history, culture and services

Education for pre-school children

Stories about Indigenous Culture

Alex Kerr - Wurundjeri

Alex Kerr is a proud Wurundjeri man, born and raised in Melbourne/Narrm. His ancestors’ stories, traditions and customs inspire his creative work, which is grounded in culture, identity and community.
After more than ten years in commercial construction, including Construction Management, Alex combined his professional expertise with his passion for art and culture to establish Liwik Yiyah Consulting.
Today, he creates large-scale murals, cultural artwork, digital designs and immersive storytelling experiences that bring First Nations culture into contemporary spaces. Blending traditional knowledge with modern aesthetics, his work encourages connection, education and respect.
Alex has collaborated with Melbourne United, Development Victoria, Housing Victoria, Melbourne Airport, Amazon, Yarra Trams and the City of Melbourne, alongside a range of corporate and community clients.

The background designs are all about Wurundjeri Country and the strong connections we have to the lands and waterways. The connected circles and lines represent everyone's journey through Country to where we are today. The large meeting places represent Melbourne United and the Kulin Nation sitting together and connecting. Melbourne United has a strong relationship with our First Nations people, and this design showcases that.

Iluka Sax-Williams - Taungurung

Iluka Sax-Williams is an award-winning multidisciplinary artist working across Indigenous visual art, fashion and design. A proud Taungurung man of the Kulin Nation with Tibrean ancestry from Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait Islands), his practice centres on ancestral knowledge, cultural education and community connection.
He facilitates possum skin cloak-making and pyrography workshops, alongside immersive art experiences. His kangaroo skin artwork Woora Liwik received the RMIT University Emerging Artist Award at the 2022–23 Koorie Heritage Trust Art Show.
Iluka’s projects include Making the Metro Tunnel, Balnarring Primary School’s Bundjil and Waa Sculpture, and the 2024 First Peoples Melbourne Art Tram design, which earned a Gold Anthem Award for Social Impact. In 2025, he presented Dabana at YIRRAMBOI Festival and participated in the inaugural Victorian First Peoples Art & Design Fair.

This artwork honours Taungurung Country and culture through its mountains, rivers and waters.
At its centre, Balayang the Bat, Bundjil’s brother, moves among bats across a glowing night sky, expressing kinship and ancestral presence.
Stars near Mirnjan, the moon, reference the Seven Sisters (Pleiades), a story shared across Taungurung Country and the wider Kulin Nation, connecting us to sky Country.

Steve Ulula Parker - Boonwurrung

Steve Ulula Parker is a Boonwurrung, Yorta Yorta and Erub descendant living on Millowl (Phillip Island), Boonwurrung Country. Working across diverse mediums, he blends traditional foundations with contemporary design to share cultural stories.
His work draws on Boonwurrung Birranag-ga, surrounding Kulin Country, the Victorian coastline and his Torres Strait Islander heritage, incorporating ocean themes and ochres from Country.
Steve’s achievements include designs for Cape Woolamai’s welcoming signs and Reconciliation Action Plans for Phillip Island Nature Parks, Westernport Water and Island Surfboards.

This artwork maps Boonwurrung Country from the Werribee River to Wamoon (Wilsons Promontory), including Nairm (Port Phillip Bay), Point Nepean, Murranbiik (Western Port Bay) and Millowl (Phillip Island).
Betayla (whale) celebrates the return of whales once hunted by sealers and whalers, and Millowl’s annual ceremony for their safe passage through Boonwurrung waters.
Five shields around a campfire represent Tanderrum, the Kulin Nations’ meeting place, for Ngarrgee (Ceremony).

Troy Firebrace – Dja Dja Wurrung

Born in Shepparton, Troy Firebrace is a Yorta Yorta and Dja Dja Wurrung artist and Indigenous lecturer. His early passion for art led him to study visual arts at La Trobe University, where he developed his distinctive style.
Drawing on lived experience, research and conversations with his Elders, Troy’s work expresses Indigenous identity and connects people with Country and its spiritual knowledge.
Motivated by the lack of Indigenous representation in his own schooling, Troy provides Indigenous education to teachers and young people across Victoria, helping trainee teachers embed it authentically in their practice. Through art and education, he empowers young Aboriginal people to take pride in their identity and helps ensure culture thrives for future generations.

This work explores the circular knowledge held within Djaara Country, protected and guided by cultural law, and the land’s physical, mental and spiritual value for trade.The central feather represents Bundjil and the protocol of respect when accessing Country’s knowledge. Waterholes and flowing lines depict flooding and drying streams, guiding when access is appropriate. The patterned shapes represent valuable assets and artefacts traded in accordance with these laws.

Yalanda Edwards – Wadawurrung

Yalanda Edwards is a proud Western Arrernte, Gunditjmara and WaddaWurrung woman, born and raised on WaddaWurrung Country.
Guided by her grandmother’s teachings and childhood memories of watching her paint, Yalanda’s intuitive practice centres on storytelling and cultural expression. Painting keeps her connected to her Arrernte roots, her grandmother and the desert, while honouring her WaddaWurrung and Peek Whurrong / Kirrae Whurrung heritage within the Gunditjmara Language Clans.
Her vibrant, often large-scale works are A Reflection of the Times (ART). Coming from a line of three strong grandmothers who survived the Stolen Generations, her art carries the weight of stolen language, culture and disconnection from Country. Through her work, Yalanda reclaims, resists and continues her family’s cultural legacy, creating statements of strength, survival and cultural continuity.

This piece traces Geelong Bay, the Barwon River and coastal Country spanning St Leonards, Portarlington, Queenscliff, Barwon Heads, the Split, Ocean Grove and Torquay, before returning to the bay.
Behind sit Wurdi Young (the You Yangs) and the sacred stone arrangement, whose alignment with sunset at the solstices and equinoxes holds deep astronomical and seasonal knowledge.
A black swan honours its significance to Wadawurrung women, while eel, Murnong (yam daisy), gum leaves, bush medicine and fire recognise Kulin women as healers and carers of Country.
Bunjil and Waa sit above as creators, representing the moieties and laws that shaped kinship, responsibilities and balance.
The work honours generations of women whose knowledge guided gathering, healing, fire use and seasonal care for Country, and whose strength continues to flow like the waterways.

Alex Kerr -
Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung

Alex Kerr is a proud Wurundjeri man and the founder of Liwik Yiyah Consulting, whose murals and cultural artwork bring First Nations storytelling into contemporary spaces across Narrm. As Project Lead Artist, Alex guides the collaboration between all five artists.

Travis Lovett — 
Kerrupmara Gunditjmara

Travis Lovett is a Kerrupmara Gunditjmara Traditional Owner and the former Deputy Chair of the Yoorrook Justice Commission, Victoria's truth-telling process. Travis closed that four-year process by walking 508 kilometres from his Country to Parliament in the Walk for Truth.

Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin AO — Wurundjeri

Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin is the Senior Elder of the Wurundjeri people and the great-great niece of William Barak. Recognised as an Officer of the Order of Australia for her lifetime of work in social justice and reconciliation, Aunty Joy provides cultural oversight of the project.

Tom van de Vusse — 
Melbourne United

Tom van de Vusse is the Chief Marketing Officer at Melbourne United, coordinating the Kulin Nation Project across its artistic, commercial and storytelling elements.