Caleb Nichols-Mansell's work unveiled at Hobart Town Hall

Outside the Town Hall, an Aboriginal artwork has been unveiled followed by a ceremony announcing the City of Hobart as a member of the national network Welcoming Cities organisation.

Artist Caleb Nichols-Mansell said his artwork, I Am Country, took inspiration from the water below the city that moves from Kunanyi/Mt Wellington down to Timtumilli Minunya/Derwent River.

"This water carved through Country and existed long before the concrete structures that now enshroud it," Mr Nichols-Mansell said.

"The circular, vibrational pattern also alludes to the circular knowledge systems that exist within our culture and have sustained our practices for thousands and thousands of years.

"These knowledges reverberate through generations keeping culture strong."

He said he hoped his work would make the people of Hobart reflect on their own relationship with the city.

"This work invites the broader public to contemplate their own connection to Country whilst providing space and opportunity for them to acknowledge the Country that they live and work on here in nipaluna/Hobart," he said.

"The poem, I Am Country, is an explorative written piece that encourages the reader to imagine the person as Country or Country as the person.

"It is a gentle and soft journey into the heart and spirit of indigeneity among Tasmanian Aboriginal people.

"I believe this is an important step in recognising the land and culture that lives within and throughout the cities we live and work.

"My hope is that this sets a precedence for other councils and city leaders to engage Aboriginal artists and practitioners in building on this narrative and embedding Tasmanian Aboriginal art, culture, stories, and knowledges throughout the island.

"I'm grateful for this opportunity and hope this is the first of many more."

Hobart also celebrated its new accreditation as a Welcoming City under the national Welcoming Cities Network.

Hobart's recognition coincided with the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Human Rights Day on December 10.

Welcoming Cities representative Sebastian Geers said Hobart had shown leadership in this area and had reached the standard to be officially accredited as a Welcoming City.

"There is strong integration of city plans and strategies that cross-reference aspects of welcome, belonging, and full social and economic participation," Mr Geers said.

He said this status for the City of Hobart as a Welcoming City showed that Council had acted towards becoming a more connected and cohesive community.

"They have cemented their status as a member of the network and a driver of cultural change," he said.

"They respectfully acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Owners of the land and respect their culture and identity."