Belgrave Survival Day

The Belgrave Survival Day 2013 demonstrated once again how the event continues to grow from year to year. Attended by well over 1000 people the day was rich in entertainment and also education.

We were lucky enough to have Leila Gurriwiwi return as our MC for the third year and she did a great job. It was also pleasing to hear from Leila that the Mangrook Footy Show will be returning this year on NITV.


As always we were treated to some great music on the day. David Martin performed an energetic contemporary Didgeridoo set accompanied by the drums. Photo by John Weeks


Benny Walker and Band gave a crowd pleasing set


Whilst Lady Lash delivered some blistering hip hop.
Uncle Bill Nicholson Wurundjeri elder and Jindi Worobak Dance Troupe returned again as well. Uncle Bill educated the crowd on the culture and history of the Wurundjeri. Uncle Bill then performed a smoking ceremony to Welcome people formally to Wurundjeri land.

Photo by John Weeks	Photo by John Weeks

A focus of this year’s event was the 150th Anniversary of the establishment of the Cooranderk Mission. The Shire of Yarra Ranges Regional Museum had a stall on the history of the mission. We were also privileged to have Healesville elder Aunty Dot Peters both speak and hold workshops teaching the traditional skill of weaving using flax leaves. Aunty Dot is a living connection to Cooranderrk as her grandmother was born on the Mission. The Southern Dandenong Landcare Group also sold many Cooranderk or Christmas Bush plants which will no doubt flourish around the hills. This was the plant the mission was named after.


Watch a Great documentary on Cooranderrk from The First Australians series.

Belgrave Survival Day over the years has developed into a great family day with heaps of childrens activities. This year there was even more for the kids to do than ever. Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place ran boomerang decorating, Uncle Phil had the children enraptured with colorful lessons on making damper, Tr@k helped the children make indigenous badges and flags and Oxfam did face painting. A coloring in competition was enthusiastically undertaken too.

Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place stall	Uncle Phil making damper	Uncle Phil again

Photo by John Weeks

Gnarrayarrahe was a big presence on the day. In his fifth appearance at Survival Day in Belgrave he performed a Didgeridoo meditation and reprised the crowd favourite “Black Elvis” as well teaching children traditional dance in a well attended workshop.

Photo by John Weeks

3MDR 97.1FM again simulcast the day whilst volunteers interviewed attendees and Rod Neason video’s the concert. 3CR also simulcast the event from 12-4PM whilst Gilla interviewed the crowd. The ongoing support of these two community radio stations is a fabulous contribution to our day.


Political speeches on the day came from YouMeUnity who were also one of our major funders. Damian from Reconciliation Victoria spoke about the campaign to recognise Indigenous Australians in the Australian Constitution and remove the overtly racist elements of the constitution.


Geogina from Concerned Australians spoke at length about the devastating effects of the NT Intervention and its continuance by the Federal ALP Government through the “Stronger Futures” Legislation. Our MC Leila Gurriwiwi shared how her immediate family were being personally affected very badly by this racist legislation.

Photo by John Weeks

Rodney Augustine

Rodney Augustine Jabbir Jabbir a Nyul Nyul man from Walmadan Country is Calling then spoke sharing how important the fight against the industrialisation of the Kimberley for the sake of the profits of a few huge corporations. The crowd was invited to “Stand up for Burrup”
Thanks again to major sponsors Shire of Yarra Ranges, Samantha Dunn Lyster Ward Councilor and the YouMeUnity campaign.

Belgrave Survival Day is organised by a hardworking group of volunteers – so big thanks to all of them!! See you next January 26th at Borthwick Park for Belgrave Survival Day 2014

More Photos of the Day
John Weeks’s fabulous photos
Photos on our Facebook Page

Download the Program from the day here

“Like” Belgrave Survival Day on Facebook or send an email to survivalday@gmail.com to go on our email list.

This year we are wrapped to have the Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place (MMIGP) get involved in Belgrave Survival Day.

The Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place (MMIGP) is a community controlled Aboriginal organisation based in the Eastern Metropolitan Region of Melbourne. MMIGP is an Aboriginal neighbourhood house which exists to retaining promoting and strengthening Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural identity in the Eastern Metropolitan region of Melbourne. It runs programs such as an Elders network, a women’s network, a mens network, a play group and Home and community care.

As part of this year’s event MMIGP will have an information stall, boomerang and clapstick painting and face painting as well!

12.15– Intro from by MC-Leila Gurruwiwi
12.20-You Me Unity Speech
12.30-Didgeridoo Meditation with Uncle Joey (Gnarnayarra Waitairie)
12.40-Uncle Bill Nicholson Welcome to Country
1.00– Speech from Councilor Samantha Dunn
1.10– Jindi Worobak Dance Troupe
1.30-Speech by Aunty Dot Peters
1.35-Dave Martin (Contemporary Didgeridoo Player)
2.00 Benny Walker and Band
3.00 Lady Lash (Hip Hop artist)
3.45 Speech from Concerned Citizens
4.00 Speech from Rodney Augustine Jabbir Jabbir / Nyul Nyul man from Walmadan Country is Calling
4.10 Thank you’s and announcements

1.45: Weaving workshop with Aunty Dot
2.30 PM Story telling and dance workshop with Uncle Joey (Gnarnayarra Waitairie)
- Damper cooking with Uncle Phil through out the day
- Mullum Mullum Indigenous Gathering Place will be doing boomerang and clapstick painting and face painting
- Other activities include a coloring in competition and indigenous flag and badge making

The sixth annual Belgrave Survival Day will this year focus on children’s activities, hip hop and the 150th anniversary of Cooranderrk.

The Yarra Ranges Regional Museum will present information on the establishment of the Cooranderrk Mission Station in Healesville in 1863. The story of how Wurundjeri leader William Barak and other elders fought to gain and farm the land in Healesville only to have the enterprise destroyed by the Aboriginal Protection Board is a hugely significant but not well known piece of local history. Uncle Bill Nicholson, a current Wurundjeri elder and Aunty Dot Peters whose grandmother was born on Cooranderrk will both be speaking on the day. .Cooranderrk plants or the Christmas Bush, which the mission was named after, will be sold on the day too.

The day will also include a great many activities by and for children. Gnarnayarrahe Waitairie and his daughter will be doing storytelling and dance workshops. Uncle Phil will show children how to make damper too! Colouring in competitions, flag making and face painting will also occur.

For the adults there will be great musical performances from indigenous artists, .Benny Walker and Lady Lash. Benny Walker, born and bred in Echuca, is one of Australia’s most promising new indigenous talents. His music is a blend of soul, blues, reggae and acoustic folk, which tells of the trouble, strife and wonder of everyday life.

Lady Lash has been nominated for a ‘Deadly Award’ and was a Victorian state finalist for the ‘One Movement Festival’ (AIMS) Perth. Lady Lash is a talented and engaging hip hop artist, performing her unique interpretation of Urban Blues with a Gypsy flare, she is a strong Indigenous Kukutha woman. With an LP in production and an Ep ‘Pearl’ out now, she has set a new unique breed of music for the people with her live band of gypsies.

Our MC for the day is Leila Gurruwiwi from the Marngrook Footy Show.

The event is organised by a committee of volunteers and generously funded by the Yarra Ranges Council and the YouMeUnity Federal Government campaign for constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians..
For further information or comment please do not hesitate to call Davey Heller 0488 619 444 or via e-mail at survivalday@gmail.com.. Details of the event can also be found at our website
www.belgravesurvivalday.org

WHEN: 26TH January 2013
TIME: 12 noon – 4.30 PM
WHERE:Borthwick Park (next to Belgrave Pool) Benson St
BELGRAVE Melway reference 75/F11

Just letting all our Belgrave Survival Day supporters know about some fantastic upcoming local indigenous events. Coinciding with National Reconciliation Week, Burrinja Cultural Centre is hosting a fascinating collection of art, films, speakers and workshops. All the details can be found at Whats On at Burrinja. Burrinja is located at Cnr Glenfern Rd and Matson Dr in Upwey.

Memories – Contact with White People Exhibition

4 May – 24 June 2012

Based on Patsy Lulpanda’s canvas painting with the same title comes an exhibition of artworks from the Burrinja Collection that explores the theme of contact with white colonisers from the Aboriginal perspective. Depictions of policemen, cattle, prison trees, massacre sites and nuclear test sites tell stories of dispossession, disempowerment and destruction, and yet their telling provides future hope. Entry Free.

Friday 1 June 2012

Indigenous Film Night

Session 1 @ 7pm
Too Many Captain Cooks (1989), Documentary, 18mins
This film seeks to replace the stereotypes promoted by the non-Aboriginal history of white settlement in Australia.
Beneath Clouds (2001), 94 mins
Drama about Lena, the light-skinned daughter of an Aboriginal mother and Irish father and Vaughn, a Murri boy doing time in a minimum security prison in North West NSW.

Session 2 @ 9.30pm
Babakiueria (1986), 30mins
A comic but powerful satire that reverses roles, imagining what it would be like if a black first fleet had arrived in Australia in 1788 to settle an area inhabited by white natives.
Rabbit-Proof Fence (2001), 94 mins
Dramatic feature based on the ‘stolen generation’ theme about three young indigenous girls who are snatched from their mothers’ arms and placed in a settlement 1,500 miles away. They escape and use the rabbit-proof fence to guide their way home, as they are chased by white authorities and a black tracker.
Entry Free

Saturday 2nd June 2012u>

Toy-Making for Children

11am and 2pm

Kids will combine soft grasses with colourful wool to create their own beautiful animals.
This is a 2-hour workshop by Adrienne Kneeborne, and parents are welcome to stay.
Places are limited so please book online or call 9754 8723. Cost $5

In Words: Eileen Harrison and Carolyn Landon

2.30pm

Aunty Eileen describes herself as a survivor of a failed political push to assimilate Victorian aborigines into the wider community by forcing them off the mission at Lake Tyers, and she talks about her life from a cultural, personal, emotional and political perspective.
This talk is free and will go for approx. 1 hour. Places are limited so please book online or call 9754 8723.

Sunday 3rd June 2012.

In Conversation: Bruce Pascoe and Bill Gammage

Sunday 3 June – 2.30pm

Gippsland resident and author of Convincing Ground, Bruce Pascoe will present his recent book Dark Emu, an examination of the Aboriginal economy as seen by the “Explorers”. Bruce Pascoe will be in conversation with Bill Gammage, who recently published The Biggest Estate on Earth – How Aborigines made Australia, a book that examines land-management strategies used by Aboriginal people around the country prior to colonialisation.
Cost $10/Members Free. This talk will go for approx. 90 minutes. Places are limited so please book online or call 9754 8723.

Basket Weaving for Adults

11am to 4pm

Using coil stitch, thread and locally collected native grasses participants will create one gorgeous basket to take home. Materials provided. Adrienne Kneeborne is an artist from Tennant Creek, NT, living and working in Warburton.
Cost $35/$25 members. Places are limited so please book online or call 9754 8723.