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INSIDE: See pic stories from Dark MoFO in Lutruwita, Barunga Festival in the NT, and the Seagrass Festival in WA.  

Edition 853 ON SALE NOW!

🗞 IN our latest edition, ON SALE TODAY, you’ll read about: 

  • AS rallies were being held around the country to protest the death in custody of Kumanjayi White in Alice Springs on May 27, news of another death in custody on May 30 was coming to light. Full reports, page 3

  • A FINAL call on Woodside’s massive gas project has been delayed with the energy giant granted more time to consider federal government conditions on cultural heritage and air quality. See page 8 for more. 

  • LOCKDOWNS at overcrowded and understaffed prisons in the Northern Territory have surged since a crime crackdown and tougher bail laws were imposed, page 8. 

  • ABORIGINAL and Torres Strait Islander people have been recognised in the recent King’s Birthday 2025 Honours List  for their contributions in health, community advocacy, education and land rights. Read some of their inspiring stories, page 53. 

  • THE convergence this year of the Sir Douglas Nichols Indigenous Round, the start of the historic Yoorrook Walk for Truth, and Sorry Day set the mood for this year’s Reconciliation Week. See the pics from key events held in Victoria, pages 18-19. 

 

  • IN SPORT: Read Koori Mail correspondent Kris Flanders’ story about the First Nations Gems on the Indigenous rugby league’s pathway for women, on page 48. 

Latest News Stories

Virgil Wurraggwaawa and one-year-old Aquisa Nundhirriballa, the youngest of Numbulwar’s Red Flag Dancers at the 2025 Barunga Festival. Picture:Glenn Campbell/Bagala

Five thousand celebrate at Barunga festival

Sunday, 22 June 2025 1:03 pm

NT: BARUNGA festival 2025 wrapped up last weekend with 5,000 people coming together on the lands of the Bagala clan of the Jawoyn people to experience the richness of First Nations art, music, dance, and sport. Highlights included a performance by Thelma Plum, who made history as the first female artist to headline Barunga festival.  

Land-rights champion, Eddie Koiki Mabo, pictured, is celebrated every year, on Mabo Day, June 3rd, for his contribution to progressing Indigenous land rights. (Picture: AIATSIS)

Mabo’s legacy celebrated

Sunday, 22 June 2025 1:03 pm

VIC: MABO Day was celebrated in Naarm with a concert featuring an array of Torres Strait Islander performers, Torres Green, Johnny Harding, Kiwat Kennell and Candice Lorrae. 

Presented by the Koori Heritage Trust and the City of Melbourne, the event celebrated the legacy of Eddie Koiki Mabo, whose tireless legal fight overturned the false doctrine of terra nullius in 1992. 

2025 winners Rasmussen State School. Pic – Tahlulah Tillett, from the Cowboys.

Townsville Primary Schools visit Palm Island

Sunday, 22 June 2025 12:57 pm

QLD: NINE visiting primary school teams from Townsville cruised across the ocean by ferry to Palm Island and competed against local teams from Bwgcolman State and St Michael’s Catholic for the prestigious Obe Geia Challenge. 

It was held at Barracudas Oval on May 30, which was the first Day of Reconciliation Week. 

The Obe Geia Challenge is named after former Cowboys NRL player Obe Geia Jnr from Palm Island and was established by the Cowboys in 2009 with the primary objective of using rugby league to promote inclusivity and unity among diverse cultures.

Cowboys Programs Manager Ray Thompson said that throughout the carnival, sportsmanship remained at the heart of the competition.

Dr Teruo Fujii (President of the University of Tokyo) and Mitzi Nam (Kaurna Nation Elder, South Australia), at the ceremony for returning ancestors, held in Tokyo.

Ten ancestors welcomed home in first repatriation from Japan

Sunday, 22 June 2025 12:56 pm

THE return of First Nations ancestors from collecting institutions in Japan has been a source of healing for the communities from which they were taken.  

A joint ceremony was held in Tokyo to acknowledge the significance of returning these ancestors to their Traditional Custodians and country of origin.  This is the first ever return of ancestors from Japan. 

Travelling from Yuendumu in Central Australia, Desert Melody Makers were the headline act at the second night of Winter Feast, fronted by Lance ‘LT the Sound Man’ Turner (pictured) they had the crowd on their feet and having a ball.

First Nations artists shine at Dark Mofo

Sunday, 22 June 2025 12:30 pm

TAS: THIS year’s Dark Mofo festival in Nipaluna/Hobart showcased an array of First Nations art, artists and themes amongst the flames, feasting, entertainment, red lights, and upside-down crosses.


The after-dark two-week midwinter festival, spanning the city and presented by MONA, has built a reputation for pushing art to the edge, and in 2025.

It did not disappoint.

Auntie Millie Ingram poses for a photograph at her home in Redfern, Sydney. She was appointed Member of the Order of Australia (AM), for significant service to the Indigenous community of NSW in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List

Standing up what is right:
a lifetime of advocacy honoured

Sunday, 22 June 2025 12:22 pm

GROWING up on an Aboriginal mission, every aspect of Aunty Millie Ingram’s life was controlled. So when she challenged an unfair dismissal at the chocolate factory where she worked in the 1950s, Ms Ingram surprised herself. 

“Coming off a mission under the control of mission managers, that wasn’t the done thing,” the Wiradjuri woman said. “I stood up for myself and I won.”