Get up! Stand up! Show up!
July 2023
Hi there Caddyshackers,
Spesh blog in recognition of NAIDOC week 2022 which ran from the 3-10 July with the theme:
“Get up! Stand up! Show Up!”
We love to feature Indigenous work all year round, but let’s keep the NAIDOC celebration and acknowledgement going with a shout out to a couple of our fav Indigenous happenings that we are huge fans of.
There is so much wonderful work, agency and collaboration in Indigenous communities, and plenty more work in Australia to be done.
We respectfully Acknowledge that we live and work on Dharawal & Yuin country and share this Acknowledgment of Country with you.
You can also read our Acknowledgement on our website.
Kirli Saunders
We are having a celeb moment and are super excited to be hosting Kirli Saunders On The Couch webinar in October to chat decolonization, feminism, Queer space & the importance of language.
Kirli Saunders is a proud Gunai Woman and award-winning international writer of poetry, plays and picture books. She is a teacher, cultural consultant, multidisciplinary creator and artist.
Cultural Consultant
An experienced speaker and facilitator advocating for the environment, gender and racial equality and LGBTIQA+ rights, Kirli was named the NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year in 2020.
Poetry
Kirli created Poetry in First Languages, delivered by Red Room Poetry.
Books
Kirli’s books; The Incredible Freedom Machines, Kindred and Bindi have been celebrated by the Prime Minister’s, QLD, WA, QLD & Victorian Premier’s Literary, ABIAs, Kate Challis RAKA, Speech Pathology, ABDA and CBCA awards. Seriously impressive!
Exhibitions
Kirli’s solo exhibition, Returning, showed at SHAC Gallery in Nov-Dec 2021 and was supported by Australia Council for the Arts. Kirli’s art has been exhibited in Shoalhaven and Wollongong Galleries and commissioned for public art with Google, UOW, NSW Department of Education.
Play
Kirli’s first Solo play, Going Home, has been commissioned by Playwriting Australia and will take the stage in 2022.
Obviously we can talk about Kirli and her work for ages because we love the work she does, if you couldn’t tell.
On The Couch with Kirli Saunders
We are honoured to sit down with Kirli On The Couch, 19th October 1pm for a yarn.
Join us!
Zach Bennet-Brook
We couldn’t write this blog without mentioning Zach Bennet-Brook from Saltwater Dreamtime. Zach is an Indigenous man of Torres Strait Islander heritage & an award winning artist. Born & growing up in Dharawal Country, Zach has always been surrounded by the water & involved in water-based activities.
Zach has created several surfboards for us over the years and this year we are again taking the board competition on a virtual tour, where we have had over 650 entries so far!
You too could have a chance to win this amazing board by entering for free! Read more about the surfboard comp and take a look at previous boards.
July Newsletter
Our July monthly newsletter is a dedicated, special Indigenous edition.
Get the newsletter direct to your inbox by emailing Jennifer.Farinella@health.nsw.gov.au or subscribe on our website.
July Newsletter Featuring;
IndigiTUBE which is an online media platform by and for First Nations people
Deadly Liver Mob, a peer-driven intervention that asks Aboriginal community members to attend an educational session with an Aboriginal health worker and then pass on their learning to family and friends
The Ask Aunty webpage which features fascinating videos where Aunty Munya answers questions about Aboriginal people and culture
Dreamy, sleep stories from First Nation Storytellers which is based on an 80,000-year-old oral tradition which aims to help people disconnect from their devices while connecting to Country
IMAGI-NATION {TV}, a resource for marginalized kids across the earth’s surface to have a daily mentor in their lives.
Blackfulla Bookclub
Being avid readers (if you couldn’t tell from our ever growing Caddyshack Library on Instagram and Facebook) our team loooove the Blackfulla Bookclub.
Two deadly tiddas, movers and shakers Teela Reid and Merinda Dutton have created an Instagram page to share and celebrate blackfulla storytelling.
Blackfulla Bookclub shines light on First Nations writers and storytellers.
Teela Reid and Merinda Dutton have essays in the Acts of Reckoning book, along with many more Indigenous writers like Kirli Saunders, Thomas Mayor, Tony Birch, Melissa Lucashenko, Sharlene Allsopp, Jasmin Mcgaughey and more!
We are always adding to our reading list from Blackfulla Bookclub recommendations.
Blackfulla Bookclub - It is one to follow!
Seed
We love hearing stories of Indigenous youth who are taking their cultural learnings and sharing it with the world.
For this reason, we would like to give Seed a shout out.
Seed are Australia’s first Indigenous youth led climate network who are building a movement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people for climate justice with the Australian Youth Climate Coalition.
Their vision is for a just and sustainable future with strong cultures and communities, powered by renewable energy.
Take Blaktion
This list is by no means comprehensive and we haven’t even touched on the wonderful local services and interagencies that we collab with (maybe for another blog another time?!).
But to finish up, and given that we work in sexual health promotion, Take Blaktion is a great resource for all things sexual health, condoms and STI information.
Check out the short comedy videos from this years Take Blaktion ambassadors who are bringing the safe sex message to the mob with a good laugh.
Until next time,
Peace, Love & Protection
x