Newsletter December 2023

Click here to v iew the event 2023 NAIDOC Festivities The Kullarri NAIDOC Festival is an annual two-week festival for the township of Broome and its surrounding communities, to celebrate national NAIDOC week. The festivities are organised and funded through numerous sponsors, government, local organisations such as the university, and other organisations, that are a part of the Kullarri NAIDOC Working Group. As every year the University participated in the annual NAIDOC Reconciliation Walk on Friday 23rd June. The walk commenced from Chinatown and ended at Our Lady Queen of Peace Cathedral. Along with hundreds of people, the Broome Campus staff and students held the Indigenous flags and the university flags up high and walked to the end to enjoy the Opening Ceremony. The Opening Ceremony included a welcome speech from Aboriginal Elders, performances by traditional Yawuru dancers and performances from combined primary school choirs. On the morning of Wednesday, the 28th of June 2023 the Broome Campus hosted our NAIDOC event ‘For Our Elders’ Morning Tea. The event was a team effort, staff and students came together to participate, assist, and provide support to our Elders, we had great help from students at Trinity College and Secondees from Jawun. The event included traditional smoking by our long- standing associate, Yawuru and Jabirrjabirr woman Ms Erika Bernard. Yawuru and Karajarri man Neilo McKenzie delivered a terrific Welcome to Country. UNDA and Trinity College students assisted with serving morning tea to the Elders. During the morning tea break we were entertained with a live performance from singer and songwriter Leanne Shovellor. The event ended with our Elders’ sharing stories of their knowledge and childhood memories. We are delighted to announce that the event was a great success with close to 250 attendees. We received a great amount of positive feedback and we feel that we have achieved what NAIDOC celebrations are all about, coming together to acknowledge and embrace First Nations People and Culture, but ultimately to walk together in Reconciliation for a better future for all Australians. Article by Uweinna Albert