NAIDOC Week | Dancing Butterflies Dome
Location: Main Retail Plaza
Dates: 6th Jul 2026 – 10th Jul 2026
Time: 10:00am – 2:00pm
This NAIDOC Week, Collins Square invites you to step inside the Dancing Butterflies Dome, a 5-metre immersive experience celebrating the richness of First Nations art, culture, creativity and storytelling.
Showcasing Ngarra Bullum-Bullum (Dancing Butterflies) by Simone Thomson, this captivating installation brings 50 butterflies to life, symbolising resilience, transformation and the enduring strength of the NAIDOC movement.
Artist Note – Dancing Butterflies
Simone Thomson is a Wurundjeri, Yorta Yorta and Wiradjuri multidisciplinary artist, designer and maker. Grounded in her connection to Country, her work reflects storytelling, identity and heritage across public art, painting, design, fashion and textiles.
In this work, butterflies move in unison, symbolising transformation, renewal and strength. The fifty butterflies represent fifty years of the NAIDOC movement, each one a marker of resilience, progress and the continuing journey of First Nations peoples. Together, they reflect celebration, survival and the power of cultural storytelling passed through generations.
Collins Square and Walker Corporation acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of our land. We acknowledge the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Eastern Kulin Nation as the traditional custodians of this place we now call Melbourne.