Joglo Rahayu – a fitting home for a fine gift

The Joglo Rahayu (Peace Pavilion), colloquially known as the Pendopo and situated in the Education and Humanities courtyard at Murdoch University, was officially opened in a colourful ceremony on 27 November. With funding from the Lotteries Commission, Clough Engineering, PT Petrosea, and many individual donations, the Pendopo was constructed by Murdoch University to house the hand-crafted, 80-piece Gamelan orchestra, presented to the people of WA in 1993 as a symbol of friendship from our Indonesian sister state of East Java.

Several WILTA members were present at the opening, along with University representatives, Indonesian Consulate representatives, friends and families of the Perth Indonesian community, representatives from various sectors of education, and members of the wider community. The ceremony had a real Indonesian flavour as local dignitaries, watched by the Consul Pak Mukhlis Yunus, officially opened the Joglo Rahayu.

The Chair of Southeast Asian Studies at Murdoch University, Professor David Hill presented a speech in which he reminded the audience of the importance of our education programs in promoting cross-cultural understandings and developing relationships with individuals and communities in Australia and Indonesia through the teaching of bahasa Indonesia. The pendopo should be seen as a symbol of the peace and understanding which exists at grass roots level between the people of Australia and Indonesia. Professor Hill also paid tribute to the fine work being done by teachers of Indonesian language and culture across schools in Western Australia; developing in students an understanding of a language and cultures different to their own, and promoting peace through these cultural understandings. He encouraged teachers to continue their hard work and further enrich their teaching programs by bringing their students to the pendopo to experience the gamelan orchestra first hand.

Professor Hill said the significance of the gamelan to Western Australia had led to the idea of building the pendopo. He remarked, “due to the prestigious nature of the gamelan, we felt that it required a culturally appropriate home".

The gamelan itself was made specifically for Western Australia in the East Java town of Magetan which is renowned for gamelan manufacture. It was presented by the Governor of East Java province to the people of Western Australia in May 1993 to strengthen the ties between East Java and WA. The purpose-built pendopo at Murdoch University is a now a fitting home for this fine example of East Javanese craft skills. The pendopo contains a thermostatically controlled storage area to house the gamelan instruments and prevent them from cracking in the harsh, dry summer heat, thus ensuring that they retain their musical and visual quality.

Pendopo are found in Indonesian villages and are symbolically open-sided so anyone can enter and enjoy music, dance and arts and are similar to a community hall in local western culture. It is envisaged that various community and interest groups will be able to utilise the pendopo facilities as well as the University's students. With over 40,000 students studying Indonesian across government and private schools, Murdoch is keen to open the pendopo to these students to give them the opportunity to experience Indonesian arts and culture close to home.

Apart from benefits to Asian Studies students at all levels of education, the Gamelan will be made available for community performances at Murdoch and wider metro/regional community events.

Report written by Karen Bailey including extracts from Murdoch University web site.