With excellent support from the City of Gold Coast, Jabree has helped provide funding for four local NAIDOC projects this year, with the last event taking place at Pimpama Primary College during the first week of the new school term.

Grant recipient Yugerapul Munanjali, led by Gold Coast Traditional Owner Doug Sandy, provided a traditional dance and didgeridoo performance at Jabree’s NAIDOC event on Tuesday 4 July which engaged the crowd in learning traditional dances, stories and language from across South East Queensland.

On Sunday 9 July, Indigenous performance artist Alicia Jones together with Chef Shaun Anderson from Native Culinary Ecstasy held a collaborative community event at the Gold Coast and Hinterland Historical Society called ‘Make Something Beautiful’. More than 30 people attended the event which focused on sharing Indigenous culture and language through performance art and group discussion, followed by different culinary activities using native ingredients which, were delicious and thoroughly enjoyed by participants!

With the return of the school term, Pimpama Primary College held its NAIDOC celebration on following Friday, 21 July. The college, in collaboration with Jellurgal Cultural Centre, organised a cultural event for students including a Welcome to Country, a smoking ceremony and a traditional dance performance.

Students were highly engaged with the performance with a few students even joining the performers on stage as part of a hunter-gatherer dance. These events were also carried through into classroom exercises over the following week with more hands-on art, craft and language activities.

Jabree would like to thank the City of Gold Coast for their support with the 2017 NAIDOC grants, and we look forward to an opportunity to work together to support community projects in the future!

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