Belgrave Survival Day

In solidarity with the Aboriginal Tent Embassy commemoration in Canberra, we acknowledge and honour the ongoing struggle for genuine indigenous land rights, and the aspiration to once again feel empowered as sovereign peoples within this ancient land.

As Indigenous writer Djarro Lambadgee wrote:

Country is Sovereign Space and Sovereign Space is Country

The Land is Kamerra and Kamerra is The Land

Kamerra is Red Mother Earth and Red Mother Earth is Kamerra              

                               (excerpt from The Kamerra Identity)

Come and join us for the fifth annual Belgrave Survival Day event, which celebrates the survival of the oldest living culture on the globe through live music, storytelling, traditional dance and craft.

The indigenous line up for the 2012 event is:

* Emerging hip hop act, Yung Warriors, comprising Tjimba Possum Burns &  Danny Ramzan (D Boy).   Very talented and both in their 20′s,  they have recently been touring the nation with Coloured Stone and were the live acts at the 2011 ‘Dreamtime at the G’ AFL match between Richmond and Essendon.  A second album, Standing Strong,  is due out shortly.

*  Lou Bennett – formerly a member of the band, Tiddas, she has been an integral member of the Black Arm Band as well as  venturing into live theatre, a solo musical career and academia.

* Noted historian and academic, Dr. Gary Presland, who has written signficant works on Koori (and natural) life both pre- and post-colonisation.

* Rodney Augustine (Save the Kimberley) will speak about the imminent threats to his beloved lands/seas of the Kimberley.

* Jindi Worobak Dance Group- younger members of the Wurundjeri council peforming traditional dance.

* Gnarnayarrahe Waitairie – he hails from Roeburne in Western Australia and embraces both traditional and modern artistic mediums.  Affectionately known as ‘Little Joey’,  Gnarnayarrahe has appeared in film and stage.   A man of many talents,  he is as competent with guitar as didgeridoo,  traditional dance to Elvis impersonator.

* Our MC for the day is Leila Gurruwiwi from the Marngrook Footy Show (ABC TV).   A well entrenched member of the alternate Footy Show, she recently has turned her attention to co-producing a new ABC TV series shot in the Northern Territory.  Leila is around the same age as the Yung Warriors and they represent a new wave of emerging indigenous performers for whom the sky is the limit.

Wurundjeri elder, Uncle Bill Nicholson, will perform Welcome to Country and smoking ceremonies.  Aunty Dot Peters will also speak on the day. There will also be a range of indigenous craft stalls and a bush tucker BBQ.   The event is FREE and all welcome.

For further information or comment, contact us via email at survivalday@gmail.com

Belgrave Survival Day proudly presents a showing of “murundak –songs of Freedom” on Tuesday December 13^th at Burrinja Cultural Center in Upwey at  6.30 PM. Light refreshments and non-alcoholic drinks will be available. murundak – songs of freedom’ journeys into the heart of Aboriginal protest music following The Black Arm Band, a gathering of some of Australia’s finest Indigenous musicians, as they take to the road with their songs of resistance and freedom. All profits. will go towards the staging of the 2012 Belgrave Survival Day event.  Phone 0488 619 444 for bookings.

More on Murundak
From the concert halls of the Sydney Opera House to remote Aboriginal communities of the Northern Territory, ‘murundak‘ – meaning ‘alive’ in Woirurrung language – brings together pioneering singers including Archie Roach, Bart Willoughby and the late Ruby Hunter, and a stellar lineup of emerging Indigenous talent including Dan Sultan, Shellie Morris and Emma Donovan.

Filmed against the backdrop of Australia’s changing political landscape, ‘murundak‘ charts one of the most significant events in Australian music history as The Black Arm Band sing up the country’s troubled past through their stories of sorrow, anger and hope.

http://www.murundakdocumentary.com/

The Belgrave Survival Day committee is thrilled to announce that we have again secured $10,000 in funding from the Yarra Ranges Council as part of their Festival Grants program for the 2012 Survival Day. Rest assured we are currently meeting to organise yet another great Survival Day event. So put January 26th 2012 in your calendar and come along to Belgrave to again celebrate Indigenous culture and survival and to acknowledge that Australia does indeed have a black history.

Below is Kristy Henderson’s account of Survival Day

Belgrave’s annual Survival Day expressed a vision to which all could feel part. Healesville’s Indigenous elder Aunty Dot urged the crowd to care for each other, especially children, in order to create a future based on respect, whilst Richard Frankland and The Charcoal Band revved up the audience with the call for a celebration of dissenters – to those who have stood up for Indigenous rights and justice across the ages.

Surrounded by the aged cypress trees of Borthwick Park in Belgrave about 500 people gathered to hear Indigenous performers such as Jessie Lloyd who, following the welcome to country ceremony, filled the valleys and slopes of Belgrave with her beautifully proud voice – a voice that told me, as I arrived, that I was in the right place. Leila Gurruwiwi, a talented young presenter, charmed the crowd as MC, whilst Black Elvis, the Jindi Worobak dance group and Gnarnayarrahe Waitarire entertained, sharing and celebrating their culture with the audience.

Throughout the day adults enjoyed the music and relaxed on the lawns in the unusually cool, but not cold, weather (past Survival Days have been both hot and sunny), whilst children ran hither and dither with homemade Aboriginal flags; their faces painted with Aboriginal designs. After four years running Belgrave’s Survival Day has become the official event for January 26th in the region, with many Indigenous peoples from Healesville and beyond attending.

The Survival Day Committee this year honoured Yorta Yorta man William Cooper who, among other inspiring accomplishments, lead a private protest at the German Consulate in Melbourne against the Nazi’s following the barbarism of Kristallnacht in 1938, in which 91 Jews were killed and a further 30,000 rounded up and sent to concentration camps.

Each January Australia is faced with the opportunity to define itself in the wake of its history, in the same way that Germany was forced to after the Second World War. For Indigenous Australians January 26th is both a day of mourning (Invasion day) and a day of celebration (Survival day). It is a day to celebrate Indigenous culture and the strength of those who have withstood and survived the genocide, and a day for all to reflect on the legacies of colonialism and the lessons that we have learnt as a result.

Unfortunately, Australia still has a long way to go in acknowledging its racist history and in delivering justice to Indigenous people. The life expectancy of Indigenous people is still way below the national average, whilst politically Indigenous people remain under represented with political leaders rarely acknowledging the need for a treaty and reparations. This political situation is what upholds policies like the Northern Territory Intervention, to which many Indigenous community leaders vigorously dissent.

As Aunty Dot reflected, the virtues of respect, care and compassion should be central to our communities in order to ensure a just, equal and peaceful future for all. Belgrave’s Survival Day captured these sentiments and maybe 2011 will be a year in which they are acted upon.

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Aunty Dot put out the call for help maintaining the cemetery in Healesville where her elders are buried. A lawn mower is required. If you can help, contact the survival day committee for her contact details at survivalday@gmail.com.

Belgrave Survival Day 2011 was another great day of celebrating, learning and the sharing of indigenous culture which has survived over 230 years of colonisation. All the performers shone (even if the sun did not) including a powerful set from Jessie Lloyd early in the day, some serious moves from Black Elvis and an electric performance from the Charcoal Club that brought much of the audience to their feet. The audience were also privileged to share some traditional Aboriginal culture including some story telling from Gnarnayarrahe Waitairie and dancing from the Jindi Worobak Dance Group led by Bill Nicholson Wurundjeri Elder who also led the crowd in a welcoming smoking ceremony. Healesville’s Indigenous elder Aunty Dot urged the crowd to care for each other, especially children, in order to create a future based on respect, whilst Richard Frankland revved up the audience with the call for a celebration of dissenters – to those who have stood up for Indigenous rights and justice across the age. MC Leila Gurruwiwi from the Marngrook Footy Show also did a great job as the MC of the event. Thanks to all the volunteers, acts, organisations and the audience for helping to make this year another successful day. In particular thanks goes to the Shire of Yarra Ranges and Councillor Samantha Dunn for funding the day. Here are some images from the day

Can’t physically be there for Belgrave Survival Day 2011? Not to worry, the event will be broadcast live from 12 noon to 2pm on radio 3CR 855 AM or streaming live from anywhere in the world at www.3cr.org.au

The Belgrave Survival Day is honoured to present as part of our day’s activities the opportunity for children to decorate a boomerang made by Murrundindi, the Wurundjeri Ngurungaeta (Headman).

Children will be encouraged to decorate the boomerangs with traditional Wurundjeri symbols that we have been given permission to teach by Murrundindi.

If you want to see some the fantastic performers playing at this year’s event on January 26th 2011, then check out the Youtube video’s below.

RICHARD FRANKLAND AND THE CHARCOAL CLUB

JESSIE LLOYD