Big crowd says goodbye to Sam Watson

THOUSANDS of people across the country turned out at rallies to express their disgust at the shooting of 19-year-old Kumanjayi Walker by a Northern Territory police officer.

Since the shooting there have been protests in major capital cities, and desert communities including Yuendumu, Mparntwe/Alice Springs, Lajamanu, Tennant Creek and Pukatja. 

Protesters used slogans like ‘Black Lives Matter’, ‘No Peace No Justice’, ‘Stop Police Brutality’ and ‘Justice For Walker’.

Senior Warlpiri Elder Ned Jampinjimpa Hargraves thanked ‘all the towns and cities that are standing with us’. 

“We will keep fighting until we get justice,” he said. We will not stop. We are asking for the world, Australia and outside, to put this out. Everyone needs to see what Australia is. Australia is a racist country.”

ELDER Reggie Uluru, who was present for the Uluru handback and the closure of the climb, says it is the end of a long fight for land rights.

Shortly before Uluru was permanently closed to climbers at the end of last month, the crowd was ordered to make way for a group of Aboriginal Elders.

Several were in wheelchairs and had asked to be brought from their nursing home at the nearby Mutitjulu community to witness another piece of history: the closing of the climb at what is a sacred place in their culture.

Three of them, brothers Reggie and Cassidy Uluru, and artist Nelly Patterson were present when the Australian Government returned ownership of Uluru to the Pitjantjatjara Anangu people on October 26, 1985.

AN app developed by the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) will help bring the sound of language to life across the state.

Students from two NSW public schools performed songs in their local first nations’ languages to mark the launch of a new app at the Museum of Contemporary Arts last month.

The app, developed by the NSW AECG, allows users to explore four NSW languages: Bundjalung, Gamilaraay, Gumbaynggirr and Wiradjuri.

Paakantji and Murrawarri languages will soon be added within the app.

Students from Weilmoringle and Rowena public schools performed at the launch, demonstrating their hard work as part of in-school language programs.

Cindy Berwick, president of the NSW AECG, said she hoped the app would contribute to Aboriginal students’ identity, sense of belonging and connection to country.

BUNDJALUNG chef Mark Olive teams up with Noongar man and Western Australian comic Derek Nannup, as the fellas whip up dishes jam-packed with natural, native Australian ingredients fused with elements of Indigenous culture in the fresh season of On Country Kitchen, this month.

“In the last series we focussed on Noongar products, ingredients, and cuisine along the west coast of Australia, from Perth, all the way down to the Margaret River, and because that is Noongar country, we were able to celebrate and showcase a lot the local tourism of the local Noongar people,” Olive said.

This time around, viewers will follow Mark and Derek over to the east coast, and learn about some of the special elements of Koori cuisine and tourism from NSW.

“I know of so many international chefs and celebrities who come over to Australia and they want to know what the real Australian cuisine is,” Olive said.

DANIEL Motlop’s company Something Wild is certainly living up to its name. Something Wild has taken a traditional ingredient, carefully blended it with the on-trend spirit gin and, in collaboration with Adelaide Hills Distillery, created Green Ant Gin.

The unique Indigenous ingredient in this “top end” gin is the green tree ant.

“With our gin and the Something Wild Logo, we’ve made green ants famous,” Motlop laughed.

“The green ants give our unique gin a distinctive citric flavour.

“It is a highly regarded product in this new and growing market.

“The genesis of the idea was to use the traditional item from youth as a botanical for gin.” The gin is carefully distilled in a column and basket still, designed specifically for the task.

BARKINDJI artist Kent Morris is used to helping former prisoners find new direction in their lives through art, but last week it was Kent’s turn to get his own designs on track.

Kent is one of a handful of artists chosen to decorate Melbourne’s trams as part of this year’s Melbourne International Arts Festival.

He is also the founder of not-for-profit organisation The Torch, which aims to reduce the rate of reoffending by encouraging the exploration of identity and culture through art programs.

Melbourne Art Tram designer Kent Morris is a Barkindji man based in Melbourne who believes Australia is currently experiencing the evolution of a collective celebration and acknowledgement of Aboriginal culture and stories.