The city's first monument to two Aboriginal men executed in 1842 will serve as a war memorial to Indigenous people's clashes with colonists, says an artist behind the winning design.
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Brightly coloured newspaper vending boxes, a child's swing doubling as a gallows and an Indigenous garden are part of the piece, for which the City of Melbourne is paying $155,000.
Artist Brook Andrew says the monument, Standing by Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, will educate locals and visitors about forgotten colonial wars between Europeans and Aborigines.
The council will on Friday announce Mr Andrew and fellow artist Trent Walter as winners of a year-long design competition for a permanent marker at the corner of Franklin and Victoria streets.
One of the judges, Indigenous architect Jefa Greenaway, said Mr Andrew and Mr Walter's entry would be a "powerful gesture" in conveying an important story. It would spark curiosity and encourage engagement.
The site, near RMIT, Old Melbourne Gaol and the City Baths, is near where, on January 20, 1842, 5000 people watched Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner hang for two murders.
It was the first public hanging in the colony.
The Tasmanian pair were dubbed bloodthirsty outlaws, but activists have campaigned for their recognition as freedom fighters resisting white settlement.
Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, with three Indigenous women, had waged a guerilla campaign, robbing and clashing with settlers from Dandenong to South Gippsland.
They were captured in November 1841 and were tried and convicted of murdering two whalers at Western Port.
Mr Andrew, speaking from London, where his art is being exhibited at Tate Britain gallery, said it was the first time an Australian city had created a memorial for frontier wars and was "just the start" for Australians to face traumatic aspects of its past.
He hopes the monument achieves visibility, and becomes a focus for contemplation and understanding about inter-generational trauma, anger and the need for closure.
"It is a war memorial, absolutely. Except it's not rendered in Western fashion."
The monument would be an "immersive experience". Native Tasmanian and Victorian plants "evoking healing and sustenance" would invite visitors in.
The apparent frame of a child's swing could also be seen as a gallows, and below it would be a stone bench, representing reflection, a tomb, and the weight of history.
Metal 'newspapers' inside the six newspaper stands will be inscribed with the stories of Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, and of colonial and pre-colonial Aboriginal life.
Ballarat indigenous artist Aunty Marlene's depiction of the 1842 hanging. Photo: City of Melbourne
On Thursday, the council also opened Executed in Franklin Street, a free art exhibition about Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, on at City Gallery in Melbourne Town Hall until February 1.
It includes a large recent painting imagining the execution scene by Aunty Marlene Gilson, a Wadawurrung elder.
Curator Paola Balla said the council commissioned and has acquired the work, one of few paintings to depict the 1842 hangings.
Councillor Rohan Leppert said the exhibition and monument would put the focus on a "crucial part of Melbourne's history, but also comment on our city today by allowing us to acknowledge a shared history".
