Bamboo Wave

The Bamboo Wave begins it’s journey by paying tribute to the Parramatta River as one of the most important historical and cultural symbols at the heart of the Eora nation. ‘Parramatta’ is an Aboriginal name that comes from the Burramattagol clan of the Darug people, the traditional custodians of this land for over 40,000 years, whose name means ‘the place where the eels lie down.’ The Parramatta River estuary, where ocean saltwater meets river freshwater, is the place where eels spawn during each full moon cycle then migrate from river to sea. The eels later return to their birthplace on the river to create new life, which continues the cycles of migration, movement, and new life. This is a phenomenon shared by both the river and the people, who have always relied upon the river as their means of transportation, their place of gathering, and their source of life since the beginning of time.