Welcome

Welcome Message from the Chair

Hello and welcome to the 11th Guringai Festival - a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture in the Northern Sydney region.

Finally there is an opportunity for the Australian Constitution to be improved by acknowledging the first people of Australia and this is the underlying theme for this year's festival.

One Voice looks at how we can all continue to address the unfinished business in this country and collaboratively work towards closing the gap with regard to social indicators that see Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people continuously rally behind the rest of the Australian population.

We need to continue to share our stories and find the commonalities in our lives and find "our voice" as residents of the Northern Sydney region and then, I believe we will exceed all our expectations and co-create a better place for our children and grand children to inherit.

The Government has recently set up an "Expert Panel" of 20 Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to discuss the way forward and this is your opportunity to be part of the discussion in our region and give your input to One Voice .

Susan Moylan-Coombs and
Caroline Glass-Pattison
Co-Chairs, Guringai Festival Committee

About Guringai Festival

Acknowledgment of Country
We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land, the Guringai peoples on whose land we now stand, we pay our respects to Elders past and present.

About Guringai Festival
Founded in 2001, the Guringai Festival aims to raise awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the Northern Sydney region. The festival usually starts on Sorry Day 26 May and goes through to the end of NAIDOC Week, the second week in July each year.

The Festival involves 11 councils and numerous reconciliation and community groups. Events include workshops, art exhibitions, performances, films and talks.

Front Cover Image
Tim Moriarty is a local artist who has a degree in Digital Media. tim started work with Balarinji in 2005 doing visualisations of art edition commemorative ThinkPads. Since then he has worked in a wide variety of areas including design concepts for the Qantas Airbus A380, architectural and interior design for proposed building development projects, an "immersive contemporary dreamtime environment" for Sydney's Wildlife World, branding content for competitions and events and television ads for high profile companies.

In 2006, North Sydney Council commissioned Tim to create a sculpture for the upgrade of the newly named Cameraygal Place as part of the Guringai Festival. In his design Message Sticks , Tim used contemporary images and materials but also incorporated traditional Aboriginal stories relevant to the area.

Tim's work is always visually exciting and members of the Guringai Festival Committee are pleased that Tim's work is included as part of the Festival once again. Tim's vibrant images for the book and poster for 2011 clearly portray One Voice , bringing together all the elements of the city, the harbour and the bush as one.

Important Dates and Anniversaries

Nadioc Week - Change - The Next Step is Ours
Sunday 3 - Sunday 10 July 2011 Celebrates the survival of Indigenous Culture and the Indigenous contribution to modern Australia. "The 2011 National NAIDOC theme is about taking responsibility for our future. To control the change we need to plan and take action to make it happen". www.naidoc.org.au

Reconciliation Week
Reconciliation: Lets Talk Recognition: You, Me, Us
Friday 27 May - Friday 3 June 2011 - Recognition is about acknowledging validity and this can happen on all levels. The proposition of changes to the Constitution is an important acknowledgement of the First Australians and the unique relationship that they have to this land. the tagline "you, Me, Us' which is specific to NSW, refers to Reconciliation being a peoples movement and centred around building understanding at an individual level. www.nswreconciliation.org.au

Sorry Day
Thursday 26 May 2011 Annual commemoration of the tens of thousands of Indigenous people who were forcibly removed from their families as children. www.nsdc.org.au