NAIDOC Week celebrations for Wingecarribee Shire
Wingecarribee Shire Council and the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community will officially kick off NAIDOC Week celebrations with the opening of a Contemporary Aboriginal Art exhibition at the Old Bowral Town Hall on Friday 4 July 2014.
Members of the public are invited to attend the opening which will take place from 4pm at the Old Town Hall. The exhibition will be open until Sunday 20 July.
An official Flag Raising ceremony will follow on Monday 7 July at Council’s Moss Vale Civic Centre from 10am.
Members of the public are invited to attend the ceremony, which will be held outside the Civic Centre, before moving indoors to the Foyer Gallery to view an exhibition honouring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander servicemen and women. Entitled, Serving Country: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Service, the display will feature memorabilia from local indigenous servicemen and women who served in a number of military campaigns defending Australia. A film excerpt from the Wesley Enoch Play, ‘Black Diggers’, will be featured as part of the exhibition.
A didgeridoo class and morning tea will follow the presentations.
The Shire’s NAIDOC celebrations will culminate with a Family Fun Day on Sunday 13 July from 10am to 2pm at the Wingecarribee Aboriginal Community Cultural Centre located in Rainbow Road, Mittagong.
Activities will include Aboriginal weaving classes, boomerang painting, storytelling, bush tucker tasting and the creation of a community Possum Cloak.
The cloak’s assembly will be led by school student Mitch Mahoney. The cloak will be made by Aboriginal families with 36 possum pelts using traditional Aboriginal construction methods. Visitors will have the opportunity to witness part of an important Cultural Renewal Project and learn of the cloak’s history and story.
“NAIDOC Week is one of this Shire’s most important annual events and one which this Council looks forward to each year,” Wingecarribee Shire Mayor, Councillor Juliet Arkwright said.
“It provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture as we continue to build an Australia that appreciates and reflects the achievements and aspirations of all our people.”
NAIDOC Week celebrations will be held nationally between 6 and 13 July 2014.
For more information about Wingecarribee Shire Council’s NAIDOC Week program of events contact Council’s Aboriginal Project Officer Jo Albany on phone (02) 4868 0856.