Today is Australia Day, when we celebrate all that is good and great about our vast brown, green and gold land, plus the people who live upon it.

However, we cannot do this without also recognising that this date has a painful history for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, serving as a reminder of the past, and dividing our nation when it should be a day of unity.

As a team, we decided that this year, rather than not posting anything or indeed just talking about feel-good Aussie things, we wanted something real.

So without setting off a cultural war discussion about the significance and timing of our national day or just pretending the past didn’t happen, this Australia Day, we wanted to highlight some of the unique indigenous lands that are home to our most famous vineyards.

We’ve thus started a list of the unique and diverse parts of Australia that we covet in the wine industry and given their traditional, pre-colonial place names (or just highlighted those regions that have kept an original identity). Again, we’re not trying to be divisive but rather to create a resource that we will continue to update and diversify over time.

We’re not alone here, of course. As this article details, the move to give traditional placenames to destinations throughout Australia is well underway, and for anyone who wishes to celebrate both our land and our (ancient) history, this is a richly Australian cause worth celebrating.

This list is far from exhaustive, and we would encourage any perspectives (and, indeed corrections as well).

New South Wales

• Awabakal Country (Hunter Valley)
• Wiradjuri Country (Orange)
• Gundungurra Country (Hilltops)
• Ngunnawal Country (Canberra District)
• Gundagai
• Mudgee
• Gandangara Country (Southern Highlands)

Victoria

• Boonwurrung Country (Mornington Peninsula)
• Taungurung Country (Heathcote, King Valley)
• Waveroo Country (Beechworth)
• Wathaurong Country (Geelong)
• Woiworung Country (Yarra Valley)

South Australia

• Ngadjuri Country (Barossa Valley)
• Kaurna Country (McLaren Vale)
• Peramangk Country (Adelaide Hills)
• Ngadjuri Country (Clare Valley)
• Coonawarra

Queensland

• Geynyon Country (Granite Belt)
• Wakka Wakka Country (South Burnett)

Tasmania

• Paredarerme Country (Coal River Valley)

Western Australia

• Wardani Country (Margaret River and Geographe)
• Kaneang Country (Blackwood Valley)
• Whadjuk Country (Perth)

Please share this widely and help us update the list too. We hope that the next time you open a bottle or visit a winery, this article will help recognise and acknowledge the Indigenous Land the grapevines were grown.

Image: Aboriginal artist Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula painting with acrylic. Courtesy of Invaluable, 2018. To learn more about Indigenous Art, click here.