Aunty Connie Hart’s legacy celebrated in One Stitch at a Time

The Koorie Heritage Trust is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year with a significant weaving commission by Sandra Aitken, Gilgar Gunditj Elder and niece of the late Gunditjmara Elder and master weaver Aunty Connie Hart.

One Stitch at A Time brings 50 unique woven items from the Koorie Heritage Trust’s (KHT’s) Collections of Victorian First Peoples Art and Cultural Belongings.

Everything from fish and eel traps, to baskets, bags and baby carriers will be on display, accompanied by oral history recordings and photographs. Buffering KHT’s own extensive collection are significant loaned works from major galleries and museums across Australia.

Weaving is a key part of First Nations cultural practice across southeastern Australia, with this shared skill bridging cultural and language groups throughout Australia. This exhibition honours the enduring survival of the practice, specifically celebrating one woman who refused to let the skill be lost – the late Gunditjmara Elder, Aunty Constance Hart.

Throughout her life, she was a strong advocate for sharing cultural knowledge and ensuring cultural practises were kept alive, even in the face of colonisation’s effects of dispossession, disruption and fragmentation. Her weavings are not just examples of outstanding craftmanship but they also tell a story of story of survival and resilience in a world that was doing its best to erase a culture.

In the words of the late Aunty Connie, “no-one taught me to make my baskets. My mum told me we were coming into the white people’s way of living. So, she wouldn’t teach us. That is why we lost a lot of culture. But I tricked her. I watched her and I watched those old people, and I sneaked a stitch or two.”

Now, her work – important not just as pieces of beauty, but for the message of survival and resistance they embody – are being displayed in the first-ever solo retrospective exhibition in the Birrarung Building at Federation Square.

Alongside her work will be new weaving from Aunty Connie’s niece, Sandra Aitken, commissioned by KHT.

KHT itself is marking four decades of cultural growth, resilience, and deep connection to the First Peoples of Victoria.

As an organisation that works to ensure the rich cultural heritage, history and knowledge systems of Victorian First Peoples are valued, celebrated and an active part of society, while also encouraging the next generation to engage with these vital traditions, Aunty Connie’s legacy serves as an inspiration for preserving and celebrating cultural practise.

Connie Hart: One Stitch at a Time runs until November 23, 2025, at KHT, Birrarung Building, Fed Square. •

Image Captions:

Images 1-3: Installation view, Connie Hart: One Stitch at a Time, Koorie Heritage Trust, 23 August – 23 November, 2025. Photo by Christian Capurro, 2025.

Image 4: Installation view, Gilgar Gunditj Eel Basket, Koorie Heritage Trust, 23 August – 23 November, 2025. Photo by Christian Capurro, 2025.