Pottery, paintings and pandanus mats detailing stories from First Nations artists across the country have drawn large crowds at the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF).
A major event for art lovers around Australia, the fair is held every year at the Darwin Convention Center as a way for talented Indigenous artists to bring their unique pieces to one central location and share their stories with the public.
This year’s event is expected to bring in millions of dollars for the 78 art centers represented at the fair, delivering an economic boost to remote communities around the country.
Hand-dyed fabrics from Anindilyakwa Arts. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)
DAAF attracted crowds over the weekend. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)
DAAF chair Franchesca Cubillo said arts and culture in remote regions were the “lifeblood of any community”.
“They are the place where opportunities flourish, be it textile design and fashion, or artists sharing the rich history of bark painting or western desert painting,” she said.
Franchesca Cubillo is a Larrakia, Bardi, Wardaman and Yanuwa woman.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
Ceramics by Hermannsburg Potters — a crowd favourite.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
But the fair was not just a chance to “share our culture as a gift to the nation”, Ms Cubillo said.
It also allowed artists to earn a wage.
The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) has seen $11 million in sales over the past five years.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
Attendees admired the intricacy of desert styles.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
“They’re able to secure an economic return, and that will allow that next generation of First Nations people to feel empowered — to actually start to think about, ‘What might a business look like, operating out of my community?'” she said.
“We’ve got remarkable artists working out of art centres, but what if we had a modeling agency operating out at Gapuwiyak, for those remarkable young men who were a part of our Country to Couture [fashion show]?”
A woven turtle sculpture from Erub Arts.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
Art fairs provide much-needed economic opportunities in remote communities.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
Knowledge shared between cultures and generations
For Karen Rogers, an artist from Ngukurr Arts Centre, the fair was also a chance to pass down skills to family.
“We’ve got my son at the moment, just teaching him how to do lino printing, printing on material,” she said.
“He’s been doing a good job, like framing canvas. I reckon art centers can offer a lot of things for young people, career pathways.”
Karen Rogers, an artist from Ngukurr Arts.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
Pandanus mats from East Arnhem Land.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
Ms Rogers said it was fascinating learning about other Indigenous cultures through art, and finding common links.
“This one from Torres Strait, I was really interested because I speak Kriol and they speak different Kriol,” she said.
“They’ve got a dictionary. It was amazing seeing it, because they speak a little bit different to our way of speaking. It was inspiring.”
The Abai Sagulau Buai Dance Team from Badu Island in the Torres Strait performing at the fair. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)
Pandanus jewelery is always popular with visitors.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
Diversity on display
From the tropics to the desert, each art center brought its own languages, styles and practices to the floor of the convention centre.
Lex Namponan, from Wik and Kugu Arts Centre, said his father was a major source of inspiration.
“We [saw] our dad when we were 14, 15 doing sculptures and bark painting and everything,” he said.
Lex Namponan, a sculptor with Wik and Kugu Arts. (ABC News: Peter Garnish)
“As we were growing [up] … it gave us the idea for what we’re doing, and now we’re here, traveling around with all our colleagues.
“I’ve got a big show coming up from this moment, back to home, going out country collecting timbers – milky pine, clays, white clay, red clay – from the ground.”
The art fair runs until 4pm today.
Lex Namponan’s dingo sculptures.(ABC News: Peter Garnish)
When Lismore was hit with its biggest flood in recorded history, the national Indigenous newspaper the Koori Mail responded quickly to the needs of the community.
Key points:
The Lismore-based Koori Mail newspaper says it’s been “doing the government’s job” for months by providing crucial flood support
The NSW state government says its recovery centers were up and running five days after the February 28 disaster
Indigenous leaders have told an independent flood inquiry they would like to see support for First Nations first responders
The newspaper’s general manager Naomi Moran said she was able to salvage laptops and hard drives, but the building and most of its contents were destroyed.
In the wake of the mud and wreckage, Ms Moran said they were forced to face the reality that for the first time in the organisation’s 30-year history, they would not be able to print the next edition, and possibly several after that.
“We lost our building, we lost our first floor, we lost everything that the Koori Mail was for the past 30 years,” she said.
Floodwater reached just below the top storey of the Koori Mail building (the white building pictured).(ABC: Matt Coble)
Far from calling it a day, the organization pivoted and became a flood hub responding to the community’s needs for food, supplies, clothing and support.
“We came up with a strategy and some ideas around how we, as an Aboriginal organization – an independent organization and business in this region – could utilize all of our resources, our contacts in our networks, to support the local community,” she said .
The Koori Mail newspaper has been at the forefront of the flood response in Lismore.(ABC North Coast: Leah White)
Government response an ‘absolute embarrassment’
In the days, weeks and months that followed, the Koori Mail team helped coordinate food, clothes, counseling and essential items for thousands of flood-affected residents relying on financial support from donations.
It was more than three months before the Koori Mail and the adjoining Koori Kitchen received any financial support from the government.
The Koori Kitchen has been providing free hot meals to flood-affected residents since the February flood.(ABC News: Nakari Thorpe)
Ms Moran said while the financial assistance since June was appreciated, the newspaper had effectively been “doing the government’s job” for months.
“I think it’s an absolute embarrassment to the government,” she said.
“I think they have a lot to answer for, coming in the 11th hour, some months later, to support a community after we’ve all done the work.
“It’s actually been the community and the community groups that have carried this region through their time of crisis.”
Naomi Moran says there is a strong case for First Nations first responders.(ABC: Matt Coble)
In a statement, Resilience NSW said:
“The first Recovery Centers were established by the New South Wales Government on 5 March 2022, providing food, access to accommodation and a range of other support services to any flood-affected community member.
“Recovery Centers and Recovery Assistance Points continue to operate across the Northern Rivers.
“Funding is currently available to non-government organizations (NGOs) across the Northern Rivers through a $13.3 million NGO funding package.”
Calls for First Nations first responders
When the NSW government’s independent flood inquiry held an Indigenous roundtable in Lismore in June, First Nations leaders called for government support to train and resource Indigenous communities to respond to natural disasters.
“We’ve been talking about things like a First Nations first responders unit,” Ms Moran said.
Naomi Moran (centre) at an Indigenous roundtable hearing in Lismore with independent flood inquiry co-chairs Professor Mary O’Kane (left) and Michael Fuller (right).(ABC North Coast: Leah White)
“That’s probably the biggest seed that we can plant here today, is to take a look at what it means to support a group of Aboriginal communities, service providers and organizations to map out what it looks like to respond to our people immediately and safely in times of crises.”
The inquiry’s co-chair Michael Fuller told the Indigenous roundtable that training and resourcing communities to respond to natural disasters would be part of the report.
“The reality is communities will always do it better than government – we see that in most disasters,” he said.
“But this point about training and resourcing communities – it’s not lost on us and it will be part of the report.”
That report was delivered to the state government on July 31 but has not yet been made publicly available.
Deputy Premier Paul Toole said the report would most likely be released “some time in the month of August”.
Doors closing for op shop and food bank
Aunty Rose Walker has been managing the mountains of donations through the free Koori Mail op shop, in the Koori Mail building, for almost five months.
“I wouldn’t be able to tell you how many people have come through here, but it would have been a lot,” she said.
The Bundjalung woman said without access to the free items, many flood affected residents – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – would have been in dire straits.
Aunty Rose Walker has been volunteering in the Koori Mail op shop since early March.(ABC North Coast: Leah White)
“You’ll see a bit of tears because it’s still affecting them inside… losing everything,” she said.
“Just to let them know that whatever they need, whatever we can provide for you, it’s here. Please, we are willing to give.”
Aunty Rose Walker has been a friendly face and a fixture in the op shop since early March, but after months of volunteering she’s preparing to take a step back.
Aunty Rose Walker estimates thousands have been through the Koori Mail op shop since the February flood.(ABC North Coast: Leah White)
Ms Moran said there was additional funding to keep the Koori Kitchen running but they would look to wind up the op shop and adjoining supply bank at the end of August.
“Our volunteers are so exhausted,” she said.
“They’ve been with us side-by-side every single day. The expectation for us to have them continue on for, you know, another few months, we can’t ask that of them.”
Koori Kitchen future uncertain
What started as a box of produce in a tent beside the Koori Mail building quickly grew into a free food kitchen, supplying close to 2,000 meals per day to flood victims.
The Koori Kitchen is still providing hundreds of meals to flood-affected residents on the Northern Rivers.(ABC: Matt Coble)
The Koori Kitchen has been run by Chelsea Claydon and chef Izzy Walton who say that even five months on demand for the service is still high.
“We’re still doing 600 to 800 meals a day,” Ms Claydon said.
Next to the Koori Kitchen is the “Koori Coles”, where flood victims can stock up on free essential items.
Both have been made possible by donations, and more recently state government funding, but it’s unclear how long that will last.
Chelsea Claydon (left) and Izzy Walton (right) have been running the Koori Kitchen in Lismore.(ABC: Matt Coble)
“I think we need to raise more money basically in order to keep feeding these numbers,” Ms Claydon said.
Ms Walton said the free meals were still an essential service in a town where few shops were open and people were struggling financially.
“A lot of them still don’t have cooking facilities at home, heating facilities at home, so I think it would be really difficult if we had to shut up shop,” she said.
Rekindling response above and beyond
Across town, Aboriginal health service Rekindling the Spirit has been on the ground since day one providing essential care to flood victims at a time when many of the region’s medical services were down.
Georgina Cohen (right) is the CEO of Aboriginal health service Rekindling the Spirit.(ABC: Matt Coble)
CEO Georgina Cohen said of the three Lismore-based offices, one went under, the other was high and dry and the third, opposite the squareLismore Square, had water lapping at the street gutters.
“There was what seemed like hundreds of boats coming in… and staff were helping whoever was in need,” she said.
“On the Tuesday our power was restored and we were able to reopen the medical service.
Floodwater reached the gutters around Rekindling the Spirit’s office on the corner of Uralba and Diadem St in Lismore.(Supplied: Georgina Cohen)
“The staff that were not flooded, and not affected with people staying with them after the floods, were able to come in and support any and every client, with appointments, with GPs via telehealth.”
The Koori Mail team and volunteers received the national NAIDOC award for innovation, recognizing their “coordination and leadership” post flood.
Ms Moran said she hopes lessons are learned from the Koori Mail’s flood response.
“What you see here is a community that can absolutely self-determine what it looks like to look after our people,” Ms Moran said.
First Nations designers and artists from across the country have come together in Darwin to showcase some of the nation’s leading Indigenous fashion.
The Country to Couture fashion show has been held on Larrakia Country, in Darwin, as part of the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair.
Artistic director, Shilo McNamee, said 18 designers and artists took part in two sold-out shows.
“We’ve had so much interest from all these amazing designers, artists and creatives, so we’ve got two really big shows,” she said.
A model showcasing a design from Saltwater Freshwater Arts Alliance. (Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
A design from Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts in collaboration with Aly De Groot Art. (Supplied: Michael Jalaru Torres)
‘Culture is a very important thing’
Wendy Hubert, an artist from the Juluwarlu Art Group in Western Australia, designed and modeled clothes for the show.
Wendy Hubert and Wimiya Woodley. (ABC NewsMitchell Abram)
She said it was a pleasing experience to showcase Indigenous culture.
“Culture is a very important thing that we share with others … And you have to feel good to share your culture,” Ms Hubert said.
“To share and acknowledge ourselves, to be proud of ourselves, to have pride in yourself and be accountable.”
Wendy’s grandson Wimiya Woodley also took part in the show, and was his first time taking to the runway as a model.
A design by Linda Puna from Mimili Maku Arts, in collaboration with Unreal Fur.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
A design by Linda Puna from Mimili Maku Arts, in collaboration with Unreal Fur.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
“I’m feeling pumped to show my family’s culture, being around all these other First Nations people, it’s very empowering he said.
“We’ve come a long way as blackfellas… and to be in this venue in the capital of the NT… it’s very magical.”
A design by Ngali by Denni Francisco, with textile adapted from Lindsay Malay.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
‘Carrying our stories’
Creative Director Shilo McNamee said she had been blown away by the response to this year’s Country to Couture events.
“Audiences are really excited to come and support the show, support designers and artists,” she said.
“There are quite a few local people involved in the show, we’ve got local talent on stage as our closing performances… so it’s great that Darwin people could come get behind it.”
A model wearing a design by Western Australia’s Juluwarlu Art Group.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
A Gantharri by Bobbi Lockye design on the catwalk.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
Bobbi Lockyer, a designer who also took part in the show, said she was encouraged by the response to the event.
“It’s so important because it’s a way of carrying our stories through and showcasing our incredible resilience and talent,” she said.
“It’s really incredible to be able to include my culture and include my art, and the storytelling through the pieces in my designs.”
The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair continues with the National Indigenous Fashion Awards and a public program of events beginning on Friday.
A brightly colored entry from Nagula Jarndu Art Centre.(Supplied: Dylan Buckee)
AFL great Eddie Betts has revealed just how damaging the Adelaide Crows training camp held in 2018 was.
The infamous leadership camp, following the Crows’ 2017 AFL Grand Final loss at the hands of Richmond, thrust the club into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.
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A number of players and officials walked away from the club in the wake of the camp and now Betts has detailed even more behind the scenes information in his upcoming autobiography ‘The Boy from Boomerang Crescent’.
The four-day camp held on the Gold Coast left Betts feeling “like a piece of me was brainwashed” with excerpts being reported by the Sydney Morning Herald.
Betts revealed confidential information he had shared in counseling sessions had been misused while writing that the camp misappropriated sensitive Aboriginal cultural rituals.
“The camp ended up appropriating a First Nations peoples’ ritual of a ‘talking stick’ and attempting to apply it to all of us, even the non-Indigenous players and coaches,” he wrote.
“In my view, the talking stick was used incorrectly, and I was not aware that any Elder had given permission for it to be used either.
“There was all sorts of weird shit that was disrespectful to many cultures, but particularly and extremely disrespectful to my culture.”
Betts confirmed the Richmond theme song was played repeatedly during a training session and he was put in a body harness and told to fight his way towards a knife as camp instructors hurled verbal abuse his way.
“Things were yelled at me that I had disclosed to the camp’s ‘counsellors’ about my upbringing. All the people present heard these things,” he wrote.
“I was exhausted, drained and distressed about the details being shared.
“Another camp-dude jumped on my back and started to berate me about my mother, something so deeply personal that I was absolutely shattered to hear it come out of his mouth.”
Following the now infamous camp, Betts approached the club and voiced his concerns with the camp and said he wouldn’t take part in any future mind-training exercises. Three weeks later he was dropped from the leadership group.
“After a meeting with all the Blackfullas at the club, I decided to address the playing group and talk about how I found the camp, mainly addressing the cultural safety implications for us brothers,” Betts revealed.
“I sought permission to remove all the Aboriginal boys from any further interactions with the ‘leadership specialists’ and their mind-training exercises.
“I told the club I wouldn’t be involved in any more mind-training exercises at all.”
The camp had a major impact on Betts’ on-field form and left the star forward questioning his place in the game. Betts left the Crows and returned to Carlton at the end of 2019 before retiring at the end of 2021.
The Crows were cleared of any work health and safety breaches after an independent investigation into the training camp by SafeWork SA.
From the top of Arnhem Land, where musicians take inspiration from his timeless words, to the streets of Melbourne’s Fitzroy, where fans leave floral tributes on the steps of Charcoal Lane, there seems no place in the country that has not been touched by Archie Roach .
His sons, Amos and Eban, said Archie died surrounded by his family and loved ones at Warrnambool Base Hospital in Victoria.
Archie’s family has given permission for his name, image and music to be used.
However, the love felt for Archie extends far beyond that hospital ward, far beyond state lines and color lines to every corner of the land we call Australia.
Archie leaves behind a legacy of tireless work towards reconciliation and a new generation inspired to carry on his message of healing into the future.
As Australia comes to terms with the loss of one of it’s greatest storytellers, those who were touched by Archie are opening up on what he meant to them.
Tributes were laid outside the Charcoal Lane Aboriginal social enterprise in Melbourne, which shares its name with the singer’s first album.(ABC News: Barrie Pullen)
‘He kept struggling, he kept fighting, he kept believing’
Goanna frontman Shane Howard, a longtime friend of both Archie and his wife, Ruby Hunter, was emotional at the death of a man he considered a brother.
It’s very raw. It’s very real. It’s a lot to lose, but I think Ruby might be calling him home,” Howard said.
The pair toured Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland together with the Black Arm Band and saw each other just days before Archie’s death.
Archie Roach and Shane Howard toured the world together as part of the Black Arm Band musical theater group.(Facebook: Shane Howard—Goanna)
Remembering his friend as a “deeply cultural being”, Howard says Australians mourning Archie’s passing should continue the reconciliatory work the Gunditjmara (Kirrae Whurrong/Djab Wurrung) singer strove towards for much of his life.
“His ability to keep forgiveness at the front — after all that had happened to him and all that has happened to First Nations people here in this country — his capacity to keep believing that we could reconcile this nation, that we could become a just and fair nation,” he said.
It comes as discussion swirls around the enshrining of an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the Constitution, an issue Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has pledged to settle as soon as possible.
“Archie’s passing reminds us that we must redouble efforts, and the greatest way we can honor him is to honor those things,” Howard said.
“There is still so much wrong and Archie knew that, but he kept struggling, he kept fighting, he kept believing.”
‘He took the words we could not speak’
Beyond his legacy as one of Australia’s most-acclaimed songwriters, Archie’s passing carries a special meaning for the Stolen Generations.
Born in Mooroopna, in Victoria, Archie was just three years old when he was forcibly removed from his family.
Yorta Yorta man and Stolen Generations survivor Ian Hamm said he was shaken after hearing the news of Archie’s death.
“When I heard, it was just like a gray shadow fell across me,” Mr Hamm said.
“Archie was a special person in his ability to convey stories and songs and bring to life what it means to be just an ordinary Aboriginal person.”
For Mr Hamm, Archie’s music provided an outlet for unspeakable pain and a way to make sense of his own traumatic experiences.
“He took the words that we could not speak and he turned them into song so that our voices could be heard,” he said.
“When we were unable to articulate what it meant at a really human level, the song ‘They Took The Children Away’, it just said it all for us.”
Mr Hamm said Archie’s strength and courage in sharing his own story was crucial in establishing initiatives such as the Stolen Generations Redress scheme.
“I don’t think we’ll see his like again and I can only hope that we will never forget that we were lucky enough to be graced by his presence,” he said.
Daniel James says he had the deep privilege of interviewing Archie Roach on numerous occasions.(ABC News: Simon Winter)
Writer and broadcaster Daniel James interviewed Archie numerous times and described the singer as a “powerful but humble presence.”
“He was someone [who] wasn’t a voice of his generation, he was a voice for generations,” James said.
James said Archie was integral in starting a conversation around truth-telling in Australia.
“This sounds counterintuitive, but there was nothing performative about his music,” he said.
“He was someone [who] was singing into a void before there was an audience ready to hear what he had to say.
“And then, eventually, that void was filled with an audience and then, eventually, that audience was filled with love. Love for him, love for his music.”
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‘We want to do it the same way our Uncle Archie did’
For Aboriginal musicians such as Victor Rostron, Archie’s storytelling served as an inspiration.
“We’re here in Garma because we’ve seen our elders telling stories, singing songs, from their hearts,” he said.
“His music tells us a story from his heart.”
Based in Maningrida in north-east Arnhem Land, Rostron plays in the Indigenous rock band Wildfire Munwurrk and wants to emulate the strength of Archie’s music.
“He was our mentor, and we want to do it the same way our Uncle Archie did, really strong and powerful,” he said.
Victor Rostron says Archie is an inspiration to Indigenous musicians from all around the country.(ABC News: Gary-Jon Lysaght)
Rostron said Archie’s breakout song, ‘Took the Children Away’, brought with it an important message not just for people in Australia, but also for those around the world.
“Me and my boys, we’re going to miss him,” he said.
“His music really means something, and we don’t want his music stopped, we want his music to be a memory for him and stay there forever.”
‘A song can be a medicine to heal’
For opera singer Deborah Cheetham, the loss of Archie represents the loss of a pillar of the Australian community.
“Today our world has changed forever. Our work becomes so much more difficult because Uncle Archie was holding up so much of our nation’s spirit,” Cheetham said.
Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume.
Opera singer Deborah Cheetham says Archie Roach united people through song.
Cheetham said Archie’s deep connection to music allowed his message to break through racial barriers and unite the country.
“His understanding, deep within his DNA, that a song is so much more than just a song,” she said.
“A song can be a medicine to heal the many wounds that have been inflicted on not only Indigenous people in this country but [also] on every Australian.
“It’s often said that we stand on the shoulders of giants,” Cheetham said.
“The whole of Australia can say that it stood on the shoulder of a giant in Uncle Archie.”
