Yiwarra Kuju

An idea amongst Traditional Owners for an Indigenous stock men and women memorial based public art connected to the Yiwarra Kuju - Canning Stock Route has been discussed for many years, and within Kuju Wangka since 2022. In 2024, FORM was approached by Kuju Wangka to explore collaboration on this idea. Ongoing conversations between Kuju Wangka and FORM since 2024, have led to FORM partnering on the project to explore and validate the ideas and opportunities for this potential public art project.

Kuju Wangka has identified this project (working title Yiwarra Kuju 2.0) as an opportunity for truth telling, with the project acting to gather, share and preserve the stories of the people connected to the droving history of the Yiwarra Kuju - Canning Stock Route. The project could act to “further weave the story of truth” into the CSR.

We are in the very first stage of our community engagement for this project and are seeking to gauge community sentiment and interest of the project, gain social license to continue the project, to gauge feasibility including location recommendations and limitations, truth telling and stories to be considered, identifying possible capacity building opportunities in communities, as well as building relationships with key local stakeholders. We are currently reaching out to key stakeholders, community groups and organisations, such as yourself, to book in a discussion and begin community engagement about this potential project.

Our funding supports the DISCOVER phase of this project, there is no pre-determined outcome. FORM is keen to listen and collaborate.

FORM has secured funding from Lotterywest to undertake a year of community consultation and engagement, to listen to the Yiwarra Kuju Community, understand community aspirations, and ensure that outcomes are community driven and led.

October 2025 - August 2026

Online community engagement commences

March 2026 - July 2026

In person community engagement commences:

• In-person engagement activities
• Online engagement activities
• Community workshops
• On Country trips

August 2026

On Country Kuju Wangka meeting

September 2026

Consultation ends

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DISCOVERY Stage.
Online engagement - Community Engagement and Sentiment Analysis.

October 2025 - April 2026

This consultation is open for contributions.

The initial 6-month phase of the project will comprise an extensive community engagement process to support community ownership of the long-term project and ensure relevant capacity-building opportunities are delivered as part of the process. The community engagement approach will involve partnering with local organisations such as Kuju Wangka, PBC's, ranger programs and art centres to consult with a broad cross-section of the community. This project will offer plentiful opportunities for the engaged communities to come together, be inspired, and feel a sense of pride

Community engagement for this period will be through long form interviews and surveys conducted online and through phone calls conducted with community members, community groups, art centres, key stakeholders including various PBC's and Ranger Programs, and business owners.

These activities are supported by an online engagement hub, surveys, idea and story digital boards, and digital newsletters.

FORM has begun working conducting community engagement with communities along the Yiwarra Kuju - Canning Stock Route, with the goal to:

1. Establish and develop relationships with community, and seek to understand community sentiment towards public artwork on Yiwarra Kuju - Canning Stock Route
2. Establish productive environments where participants feel culturally safe, supported and inspired to contribute long-term.
3. To listen, document and support collaborators during the engagement process and beyond.
4. Identify potential themes, truth telling and stories told through this public artwork.
5. Identify a list of locations for public artwork to potentially be located
6. Identify opportunities for community capacity building
7. Inform the community and stakeholders of how their input influenced the project.
8. Determine collaboration opportunities and integration between other stakeholder strategies and plans.
   

DISCOVERY Stage.
IN-PERSON Community Engagement and Sentiment Analysis.

March 2026 - August 2026

This is an upcoming stage for Yiwarra Kuju.

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The second half of the DISCOVERY Stage of the project, from March 2026 to August 2026, will comprise of a series of in-community, face-to-face engagements with communities along the Yiwarra Kuju - Canning Stock Route. These include Halls Creeks, Fitzroy Crossing, Balgo, Mulan and Bililuna in the Northern area, Newman, Jigalong, Parngurr, Punmu and Kunawarritju in the Central area, and Wiluna in the Southern area.

Community engagement for this period will be through long form interviews, community workshops and ideally on-Country trips. This period also has the potential to include capacity building workshops responding to any requests heard from community in the first half of the Discovery Stage.  

These activities are supported by an online engagement hub, surveys, idea and story digital boards, and digital newsletters.

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Evaluation and Reporting.

September 2026

This is an upcoming stage for Yiwarra Kuju.

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The final report, outlining the outcomes and evaluation of the community consultation is anticipated to be completed by September 2026. This will come following the on Country Kuju Wangka meeting in Augusts 2026.

Community sentiment engagement activities of the DISCOVERY Stage will be evaluated, reviewed and reported on to funding partners and community.

A summary and recommendation's will follow to guide any potential future stages of this project.

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This is a multi-faceted community engagement process, with different consultation needs and objectives required across different stakeholders and segments of the community.

Through this engagement process, FORM hopes to:

• Establish and develop relationships with community, and seek to understand community sentiment towards public artwork on Yiwarra Kuju - Canning Stock Route
• Establish productive environments where participants feel culturally safe, supported and inspired to contribute long-term
• To listen, document and support collaborators during the engagement process and beyond
• Identify potential themes, truth telling and stories told through this public artwork
• Identify a list of locations for public artwork to potentially be located
• Identify opportunities for community capacity building
• Inform the community and stakeholders of how their input influenced the project
• Determine collaboration opportunities and integration between other stakeholder strategies and plans

As community consultation is only just beginning, we do not have a clear idea of the community’s vision for this project. The consultation is focused on the purpose of the project; the “why” and “what”. The “how”, “where” and “who” will be established during any potential future work on this project.

This project is an opportunity to tell stories focused on the droving era of Yiwarra Kuju - Canning Stock Route through First Nations voices. Kuju Wangka identified this project as an opportunity for truth telling, with the project acting to gather, share and preserve the stories of the Indigenous stockmen and women connected to the droving history of the Yiwarra Kuju - Canning Stock Route  and assist to “further weave the story of truth.”

We understand the importance of environmental impact and conservation, and assure that as the project moves forward, comprehensive environmental, and cultural heritage impact assessments will be conducted for each location, as well as further consultation with the appropriate stakeholders.

There are lots of ways to be involved in this project such as community workshops, community surveys, as well as through this online engagement hub! This is an opportunity to shape a historic project on the Canning Stock Route.

Complete our online survey here!

By completing our online surveys! This helps us to continue to hear to desires, opinions and aspirations of the Esperance community. Look in the TOOLS section for the most recent surveys and sculpture location mapping tool to let us know where you think sculptures could be installed in  Esperance and why! 

As we move into the DEFINE stage of the Esperance Sculpture Trail (EST), we will be working alongside the Esperance community to co-design a Public Art Strategy for the EST project, as well as inform the Artist Brief(s).

In July and August 2025, the Esperance community was invited to attend a series of community workshops to inform the next stages of this exciting project. Feedback from these facilitated sessions will inform the Public Art Strategy, Artistic Brief(s), and artworks themselves through a co-designed approach.

These 2 hour facilitated workshops explored community aspirations for the EST project further in the following ways – notably in the following 3 areas:

1. Scale – what is the community’s aspiration as to the scale and prestige of this project? Is the intention for this project to deliver globally significant public art outcomes, or would the community prefer something lower-key and more regionally focused?

2. Locations – does the community have any specific ideas regarding locations for the trail artworks? How big should the trail be? If large, is it intended the trail is travelled by vehicle?

3. Artists – who should have the opportunity to be part of this project? Should the artists be local/national/international? Should the artists be Wudjari people exclusively, or should there be a quota for Wudjari artists as part of the project? If artists are not from the local area, what is the role of local artists in the project?

During the Define phase surveys will also be distributed to the local community for those that cannot make an in-person workshop. These will be available via this website.

For more information on workshop times, locations and registrations, see  HERE.

This webpage will host all the latest information for this exciting project, including all the latest project updates.

Or alternatively, contact us directly at engage@form.net.au or 9385 2200

FORM Building a State of Creativity Limited (FORM) is an independent, non-profit creative organisation, based in Perth, and working across Western Australia. Our team of 40+ people is dedicated to our mission of developing a vibrant creative economy for the benefit and wellbeing of all Western Australian communities. 

We deliver on our mission through five key strategies: Aboriginal and Islander Partnership; Creative Learning; Cultural Development; Cultural Tourism; and Sector & Community Building. 

We have extensive experience in delivering large-scale installations, festivals and events, high-impact partnerships, and meaningful community engagement, such as Field of Light: Avenue of Honour by Bruce Munro (2018) and Thomas Dambo’s Giants of Mandurah (2022-ongoing). Our work has currency both globally and on a local level, through a regenerative approach. In line with our mission, our projects cultivate cultural vibrancy and lasting social exchange. Our projects are regenerative because they:

1. Shape the future of economies

2. Enrich community life

3. Inspire and empower individuals

4. Create tourism experiences that don’t overwhelm the destination

5. Focus on human outcomes such as social cohesion, community empowerment, capacity building, leadership

We collaborate with communities on co-creating environments where everyone can express and develop views, connect and thrive together. We facilitate relationships among diverse interest groups to enable outcomes that are mutually relevant, authentic and enduring. 

We aim to always to embed self-determination, grounded in cultural awareness and respect, as the basis of our work in all communities, employing best-practice community participation methodology, to ensure that communities are authentically engaged in decisions that affect them. Our staff members are certified by the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) as engagement practitioners.