NAIDOC Week 2024
Trident Art Project

Brookside Shopping Centre
This painting is about Aboriginal cultures and living off the land where they have hunted for food to feed their family for hundreds of years. The symbols on the picture indicate spears, the hunting boomerang for killing prey like kangaroo, emu, and eating honey, ants and fish. The meeting place is were the family gather together and this is where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a deep connection with the land and the people.

Capalaba Park
Capalaba Park is represented by the possum, as Capalaba in indigenous culture means Ring Tailed Possum. Flags flying in the tree are representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The leaves represent staff at Capalaba Park.

Mackay Airport
The main image is the Trident Logo with the fire burning encompassing this year’s theme. It is surrounded by the teams fingerprints. The whole piece symbolises unity, the black dots weave through the teams fingerprints uniting all our cultures together.

Robina Town Centre
Robina Town Centre has named their painting, “Keep the Fire Burning”.

Our picture represents a meeting place for all people to come together and be a part of Our First Nations People and to learn about the past, present and future. Just like our rock which was here, is here and will always be here.

A special thanks to Robert Fleetwood (Cleaning Team member) who had the inspiration around the style and its story.

Tweed City
Tweed City’s artwork is centered around inclusion and recognition of the Bundjalung land that we work and live on.

The sky, sun and earth that in the colours of the Trident Logo were painted by the fingerprints of all team members that work at Tweed City.

This was to help build a sense of connection to the art piece by talking about our core values and discussing /recognising the history, land and culture of our area.

Sunshine Plaza
This piece draws from the land like Dreamtime Culture. It shows the vast coastline that we are lucky enough to see each day living on the Sunshine Coast. It shows our cousins to the North and a bond that we share with many generations before us. You can see our country’s red heart in the centre and a plethora of colours surrounding, the colours represent the many, many communities both past and present with space for future generations and communities to grow.

It shows the water currents, fishing areas and channels with which our neighbouring cousins have their connection.

One commonality that everyone shares is a fire in our heart for family, friends and community, this is shown in the red that is centred in the varying colours, we are bonded through a love for our country and respect for all its treasures.
We keep our fire alive by giving it the fuel and space needed to breathe and thrive.

We do this when we respect each other and create a safe embracive space for expression whether it be through a family members traditions shared with our children and kin, giving a neighbour an ear to tell a much-loved child story, or being brave enough to tell and share your story with someone new who is keen to learn and listen openly.

We fuel it when we honour our ancestors and what they have taught, we fuel it through the stories and tales that we pass to the kin we know and love most, we fuel it when we stay true to our self and our path.

We help it breathe and thrive when we embrace those around us, when we ask to understand and learn from others, when we listen to an Aunty tell their experience and share their truths without prejudice, when we can walk away with an understanding and respect for others whom we share our land we all call home.

Sunshine Coast Airport
Wunya Ngulum!

Welcome to the beautiful Sunshine Coast, home of the traditional custodians, the Gubbi Gubbi and Jiniburra people.

Our painting begins with the life-giving fiery sun basking over the unique Glasshouse Mountains. These colossal monoliths were once brothers and sisters turned to stone by the god Tibrogargan. They now watch over the stunning world class beaches and pristine waterways to the east and the rolling lush farmlands and heritage listed National Parks to the west.

Breaching below in the warm Coral Sea is the magnificent humpback whale as it migrates north for the winter.

We are proud of our home, and we honour the traditional owners of this land.

Burwood One Shopping Centre
Traces of the Past, created by the Burwood One cleaning team, symbolizes the interconnectedness of history and culture. The central motif represents the core of existence and the spread of influence over time. The various shapes and colours reflect the diversity and richness of our shared past, highlighting important events, nature, and cultural symbols. This artwork celebrates how history continues to shape our present and future.

Gold Coast Airport
The Gold Coast Airport team has named their artwork, “Yakka”, representing hard work. Hard work experienced by indigenous groups and our own site team working and coming together to achieve common goals.

Margate Village
Stephen Rowe painted this stunning painting for Margate Village. His painting tells the story of unity and togetherness. We may come from different locations, up-bringings, and cultures but our collective knowledge and walks of life builds the team we present today.

Rockhampton Airport
Our piece signifies that with unity and teamwork, we can aid in maintaining Our Bright Fire Burning for Generations to come.

This is demonstrated by the gathering of different tribe totems of some of our Trident Team members coming together with the Traditional Custodians – Darumbal People – totems the water lilly, Frog and Barramundi on the banks of the Fitzroy to stoke the spark with the sharing of cultural knowledge and wisdom to strengthen the glow of our flame.

Our flame maintains its strength with the unity and teamwork of our ROK Tridents Staffs hands ( fingerprints) keeping the fire alight by helping fan the flames higher and brighter.

Smith Collective
Our story portrays a group of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders cross the waterholes and running water to gather together at the meeting place where an Emu is nearby to guard and protect the land.

Sunnybank Plaza
The painting is an interpretation of bunjulung rainbow serpent Julunggul.

Wynnum Plaza
We tried to represent our united working culture in Australia in our artwork. This is representing people coming together to form a team. Every individual has contributed in this visual art to depict the nature created by Aboriginal people.

Westfield Northlakes
The Security Team at Westfield Northlakes has chosen to represent this theme in our artwork, using the sun (which can be seen as the centre of the Indigenous flag) as a focal point against a black background. The sun symbolises life and death for many Indigenous cultures, bringing warmth and light to the land, as well as representing the beginning and ending of all things. The fire emanating from the sun demonstrates the lasting strength of Indigenous cultures, with fire often used to symbolise gatherings of people, showing our shared experiences and the strong connections that can be fostered as we live and work together. To further demonstrate this, we have also included our own finger prints in the artwork, with each colour united by a single bolt of lightning, representing the unique spark that characterises the team culture here at Westfield Northlakes.

Caneland Central
Caneland Central is keeping the fire burning throughout the Central Queensland region of Mackay. We arise with the sun for our morning crew, who provides the energy and passion for the day. The mid-day crew goes hunting for our spills and hazards throughout our centre, ensuring a safe environment for our customers and clients. The afternoon crew ensures the tribe will be in a position to tackle the nights duties and lend a helping hand. As the sun goes down, we move into our night crew who takes control of the centre to ensure that the morning crew has the best set up that they can. The fact that each shift has contributed to a different part of the artwork, from the bottom to the top, is a great symbol of collaboration and unity. Each team member has placed a symbol or colour to represent themselves and also to allow the traditional aboriginal artwork to reflect our country.

Head Office
The Head Office team was inspired by the native Illawarra Flame Tree, found along the east coast of Australia, well-known for its striking red flowers.

The flame tree grows on the beautiful lands of the Turrbal people where we come to work each day. It draws from the knowledge and support of our head office team in Meanjin Brisbane to inspire our frontline teams throughout Australia. 

The spear on the trunk of the tree grounds us in strength, representing our identity and culture at Trident. We are connected by our values of teamwork, sustainability, and authenticity as shown by the symbols throughout the branches of the tree. The emu footprints around the tree show us all walking together towards a more equitable future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

By sharing our knowledge and advice, and supporting and celebrating our teams, we’re helping each other to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and embrace new traditions like painting and storytelling. 

We’re walking this journey together, we’re learning together, we’re growing together to keep the fire burning. 

Newmarket Village
Newmarket Village is located approx. 10km from the CBD of Brisbane (Meanjin).  From the native Turrabal language, Meanjin translates into “shaped by a spike” which is how the native peoples described the bends of the Brisbane River surrounding the CBD. Newmarket is part of the Enoggera region, with Enoggera translating to “sticky soil”.

The artwork depicts the Brisbane River and the surrounding sites which are managed by Trident. These include; Toowing Village, South Bank Parklands, Roma St Parklands, Brookeside and Chermside, and Aspley. Each site has been depicted by using the symbol of a “meeting place”. The flow of the river is connected by the Indigenous flag, and the Pride flag.

The bottom right hand corner shows the Trident head office, located in Canon Hill approx. 10km from the CBD. The meeting place is in dark blue and yellow, to represent the company colours. The symbol of the site is also that of a meeting place, but in addition, a place with current discussion. Above the symbol representing the office, are three spears. A Trident is a symbol of a three pronged power sword, or translated into a local and indigenous sense, three spears.

How Trident keeps ‘the fire burning’ is by communication about these values throughout the company. Trident has made it easy for staff to access information to learn about inclusivity, diversity and equality, by having these resources available online for staff, by dessimating regular company memo’s, and having physical posters in our offices which promote these values. Participation in a project such as RAP, ensures that Trident are passionate about continuing the conversation, or rather, keeping the fire burning.

Toowong Village
I relax to absorb their thoughts…

The ‘elder’ dances as the other stare at me. He is the only one speaking through finger paintings in the sand. He shows me the Emu. Then with hands to ears he hops like a Kangaroo. Then with hands-to-mouth he speaks out to the bird people. He throws a spear at a Water Fowl to include them. He draws a dotted image in a circle with two dots in the middle. He points out that, that is him talking to me then draws the feet tracks arriving to the Corroboree and then his foot tracks leaving.

He brings smoke through the leaves and blows his blessing on me. He hugs me with tears in his eyes…Now he leaves, flying and dancing as he goes…

What remains is the fire and the memory of the ‘encounter with the old ones; the people of the land’…