Elevating First Nation Voices

While we strive to Close the Gap in Indigenous communities, we also aim to create and develop an ongoing education and celebration of Indigenous culture internally through the administration, coaches and players at Hawthorn.

Bunjil Bagora

In 2021, Hawthorn was proud to welcome a new chapter in its history as the club renamed its Waverley Park training and administration facility ‘Bunjil Bagora.’

Bunjil Bagora comes from the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung language and was gifted to Hawthorn by Wurundjeri Woiwurrung Senior Elder Aunty Joy Murphy. Bunjil is a symbolic portrayal of the ancestral creator spirit and is regarded as majestic, swift and fierce. Bagora can be translated as a cultural place, a reminder of a rich and surviving land of thousands of years. Hawthorn’s training facility was renamed Bunjil Bagora to acknowledge and honour Indigenous history and reconciliation in Australia.

Hawthorn is the first AFL club to use Indigenous language to name its training facility.

Reconciliation Club

Whilst we strive to Close the Gap in education, healthand  employment in Indigenous communities, we also aim to create and develop an ongoing hub to educate and celebrate Indigenous culture.

This hub hosts content created for Reconciliation Week, Sir Doug Nicholls Round and NAIDOC Week, where supporters can go to find more information about what Hawthorn is doing to promote education, mental health and social and emotional well being for Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islanders.

Hawthorn is proud of our commitment to Reconciliation.