This man bought the land stolen from his Indigenous ancestors

When Craig and Ros Molyneux bought an old church in regional Victoria to make a weekend home, it was in pretty good shape. 

It was a small, unassuming wooden structure fit with a bell tower, four walls and an acre of land.

But it's what you couldn't see — the scars a property like this one bears — that was significant.

This was the former St Philip's Church, in Breakaway Creek, which the couple purchased for $145,000 in 2023.

It's land that was stolen from Craig's Aboriginal ancestors by the Church of England.

Nearby sit the remnants of the former Church of England's Lake Condah Mission, which was opened in 1867.

It's where Craig's great-grandparents and grandfather were reluctantly housed.

It was formally closed in 1918.

"I have no forgiveness for them over what they did. They made life miserable for people. If you did try to practise your culture or speak your language, then you were punished," Craig says.

There's a difficult history here, but when the Gunditjmara man stepped onto his country, he felt an attachment he's never felt before.

When he found this small structure, one that could easily be a catalyst for pain, Craig saw an opportunity to set the record straight.

"I'm not overly fussed about saving the building because it's something that needs to be saved, but I think what we can do is actually improve the building for the local community."

Along with their three sons, Craig and Ros decided to carefully and respectfully remove church iconography and infuse it with local Indigenous art.

Before: Religious symbols.. . After: Removed from the building.. .

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The couple's son, Nick, contributed artwork of the nearby Lake Condah made from acacia wood and lava rocks.

"I think there's an inherent history of the building that we can't lose, so we don't really want to erase it completely, but just have a nod to the history of the building," Craig says.

It was also an opportunity for the family to connect with a heritage that they didn't always have access to.

"Dad was separated from his family when he was an infant and didn't really grow up with his Indigenous heritage at all. He didn't really learn of it until later in life," Craig says.

So they lined the walls of the entrance with a gallery of images that told their story.

"We have my great-grandfather, Alfred McDonald, otherwise known as Boppo, and in his memory we're calling this property Boppo's Mirring, or Boppo's Country.

"It was the country that he never got. And on the other wall is his son, George, my grandfather. And below that is Dad and his siblings."

It is, as Craig described, his family's recognition of their connection to the place.

His wife, Ros, sought out Gunditjmara elder Aunty Eileen Alberts, who taught her weaving techniques that were almost lost during colonisation in the 1800s.

"It's a skill that the women used to do way back, and then it was really pretty much outlawed when the women were at the mission," Ros says.

"It was something that was almost lost. So it's really terrific that they have actually managed to continue this tradition."

She weaved a lampshade in the shape of traditional eel nets, historically used as food traps in the nearby Budj Bim National Park. It sits proudly on display inside the reclaimed building.

In the garden, Ros grows puung'ort, a traditional spear grass used in weaving, so that she can continue with the craft.

Two moiety symbols of the Gunditjmara people, the white sulphur-crested cockatoo and a yellow-tailed black cockatoo, are enshrined in a stained-glass window overlooking the main area.

Before: A work site.. . After: Transformed into a home.. .

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Craig hopes that reintroducing a native landscape with she-oak trees will return these creatures to the place.

"The she-oaks are fantastic because they bring the black cockatoos. If we can encourage the bird life, reptiles, and small mammals back to the site, it would be fantastic," Craig says.

"The wind, as it whistles through the she-oaks, that's the ancestors talking. It's beautiful."

They were able to reinvigorate this acre block with the help of a native flora expert, who reintroduced lost plants, returning the hum of insects.

Before: The building before restoration.. . After: The end result.. .

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Outside, the real centrepiece is a yarning circle, a place that Ros says you're naturally drawn to.

"We've got all the native plants that would have grown here and only in this specific area. So it's been great to get to know those plants," Ros says.

This attention to detail, particularly when it came to landscaping, meant costs were higher than expected. The original budget swelled from $200,000 to $300,000.

But it doesn't matter to Craig.

"It's only money. There's an often-used saying that you don't own country, country owns you."

"Whilst we have this little bit of land that our ancestors were denied, and we own the title to it, really, we're just here to be part of the country that manages us."

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