To end 2018, this bulletin newsletter highlights great opportunities to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists when looking for Christmas presents, as well as covering other events happening this month. We wish everyone the best for the end of the year and welcoming 2019 – our next bulletin will be early in the new year.
We were thrilled to have Muriel Bamblett present the 2018 David Hunter Memorial Lecture, which was attended by over 90 people. Muriel and the other speakers talked about the challenges and what is needed to be able to change the future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care in the ACT. This article includes photos from the lecture.
The ANTaR ACT committee is having a final meeting/dinner this Tuesday, 6 November, then will next meet early in 2019 to plan for the new year. We would love more people to join us in working for justice, rights and respect for Australia’s First Peoples – please email info@antaract.org.au if you would like to join us on Tuesday, or get involved next year.
The Uluru Statement Working Group is holding a Week of Action this week, calling on Scott Morrison and all other parliamentarians to accept the call from First Nations for a Voice to Parliament. “We want a First Nations Voice, not an envoy. We want our say.” See their website for more information.
Christmas present ideas
AIATSIS Indigenous Art Market 2018
10:00am to 6:30pm Friday 7 Dec & 10:00am to 4:00pm Saturday 8 Dec
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, 51 Lawson Crescent, Acton
Now in its 5th year, the AIATSIS Indigenous Art Market will have art stalls, food, hot and cold beverages, and cooking demonstrations from Melbourne celebrity chef and Bundjalung man Mark Olive. This is an unparalleled opportunity to encounter, engage, and be transformed by Aboriginal culture from around Australia. See this link for more information.
Burrunju Art Gallery: Burrunju Art Gallery is a not-for-profit organisation that specialises in authentic hand-made Aboriginal arts and crafts – they have a wide variety of items, large and small. The gallery is at 245 Lady Denman Drive Yarramundi Reach Canberra (near the Aquarium and Zoo), and open Monday to Saturday from 10am to 4pm. You can find out more at their website or Facebook page.
Marrawuy Journeys – Modern Aboriginal Artwork: Sarah Richards was 2015 ACT NAIDOC Artist of the Year. She sells her art – including her 2019 Calendar – at markets around Canberra. You can find out more at her Facebook page.
Leah Brideson – Contemporary Aboriginal Artist – Canberra: Leah is another local Aboriginal artist, and will have a stall at the AIATSIS market. She also has a Facebook page .
Kamil Ellis and Ensemble Offspring – Classic Kids: Music for the Dreaming
Discover how sound can tell stories and create atmosphere in Music for The Dreaming. With new compositions by Indigenous composer, Yuin woman Brenda Gifford, and performed by Ensemble Offspring, Music for The Dreaming is inspired by the seasons and the natural environment around Wreck Bay, NSW south coast. Available from ABC Music.
Other events
Mystery Road & Goldstone
1.30pm and 4pm, Saturday 10 November
National Sound and Film Archive
Two movies by Ivan Sen, starring Aaron Pedersen as Aboriginal cowboy detective Jay Swan. Mystery Road spawned the sequel – Goldstone – and inspired the acclaimed 2018 TV series of the same name. Part of the NSFA program Lonesome Cowboys.
Re-Framing Indigenous Biography – three related events
* Thursday 15 and Friday 16 November: The National Centre of Biography, in collaboration with the Australian Research Council-funded project ‘An Indigenous Australian Dictionary of Biography’, is hosting a conference on Indigenous biography.
* 5pm Thursday 15 November: In conjunction with this conference, the National Portrait Gallery will hold a public lecture Te Rangihiroa, Oodgeroo, Te Hurinui, Hamuera and me: Indigenous biographies without borders by Associate Professor Alice Te Punga Somerville from The University of Waikato, which will mark the opening of a new, biographically focused rehang of Gallery 3. Lecture at 5pm, followed by drinks at 6pm.
* 2.30pm, Sunday 18 November: The National Portrait Gallery will be screening the movie Gurrumul (2017).
Packed Lunch; Connection to People/Connection to Place, by Ausdance ACT
12:30pm – 1:30pm, Thursday 22 November
Ralph Wilson Theatre, Batman Street, Braddon
Bookings at this link.
A talk with First Nations artist Jo Clancy who is a descendant of the Wiradjuri people of Western NSW. She was raised and still lives on Gundungurra and Darug country in the Blue Mountains with her family. Over the past 25 years Jo has created many contemporary Aboriginal dance works and education programs for Festivals around the world. Jo will be in Canberra to teach for Ausdance ACT’s Connexions Indigenous mentoring program and will share her methodology and ethos of practice across country and countries.
Indigenous Cultural Tours: Bush Tucker Forage
10:30am – 12:30pm, Saturday 24 November
National Gallery of Australia
Cost and bookings through the NGA website.
Explore the gardens of the NGA with a local Aboriginal guide and learn about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture through bush tucker foraging. Discover fascinating stories of Indigenous Australians as you tour the art collection.
Eric Rolls Memorial Lecture: Mother Earth with Bruce Pascoe
6-8pm, Wednesday 28 November
Free; National Library of Australia, bookings at this link.
Award-winning author Bruce Pascoe delivers a call to care for our earth through agriculture. As detailed in his book Dark Emu, he provides compelling evidence from the diaries of early explorers which suggests that systems of food production and land management have been blatantly understated in modern retellings of early Aboriginal history, and that a new look at Australia’s past is required.