New panel acknowledges Indigenous land use around Murney Tower. 

The Murney Tower Museum, one of our 2018 Fall Community Grant Recipients, hosted a talk on July 17 with Dr. Terri-Lynn Brennan. The event, entitled ‘Murney Tower’s First Nations History’, gave community members the chance to hear about Dr. Brennan’s research and the development of the museum’s new Indigenous history panel.

Thanks to a Community Foundation Grant of $6,940, the museum was able to create a panel, along with an audio component, that recognizes Murney Point’s rich Indigenous history and celebrates the cultural contributions of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples.

Among the many topics covered at the event, Dr. Brennan discussed the importance of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Covenant, and the directional significance of the panel facing west.

“By including this panel in the museum’s interpretation of the Tower, it will allow a segment of the population who often does not see itself in our historical narratives, to see the important role their ancestors played in the region,” says Danielle Marshall, Curator at the Murney Tower Museum. “The panel will also help to educate non-Indigenous visitors of the importance of Indigenous history. We believe that by including Indigenous history in our historical narrative the history of Kingston becomes that much richer.”

The panel is now on display at the Murney Tower Museum.

To learn more about Murney Tower, visit http://www.kingstonhistoricalsociety.ca/the-murney-tower/.