Corroboree celebrates Aboriginal history and culture in NAIDOC Week

Published on 27 June 2018

The Sunraysia community is invited to celebrate and learn about Aboriginal history and culture during NAIDOC Week at a Corroboree on Mildura’s riverfront.

Mildura Rural City Council and the Aboriginal Action Committee are planning a special community event at the Nowingi Place on Sunday 8 July 2018.

Running from 3pm to 7pm, Corroboree will feature cultural workshops, stalls, entertainment and native food. The centrepiece of the event will be a corroboree, a traditional Aboriginal dance ceremony performed on a stage of sand. In a contemporary interpretation of the Aboriginal tradition, a number of different Indigenous dance groups will perform and all event attendees will also have an opportunity to join in too.

Councillor Simon Clemence said this year’s Corroboree event would follow on from the success of the first of its kind which was hosted in 2017.

“Last year we saw people from all walks of life coming together and learning about and sharing in the rich traditional and heritage of Aboriginal culture,” Cr Clemence said.

“We hope this year’s event will be just the same and I can’t think of a more appropriate way to mark NAIDOC Week.”

Held annually in July, NAIDOC Week is a national celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Mildura’s Corroboree, is just one of a raft of events that will be held across the region and the entire country, to mark the occasion.

Cr Clemence said NAIDOC Week provided an incredible platform for acknowledging our region’s long and rich Aboriginal heritage and for the wider community to acknowledge this.

“Mildura Rural City Council has made a commitment to reconciliation. Through initiatives such as the Corroboree event, we’re working to strengthen relationships with our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Mutual respect, inclusiveness, equity and cultural awareness are crucial if we are to achieve reconciliation.”

Corroboree will be held at the Nowingi Place, Hugh King Drive Mildura from 3pm to 7pm on Sunday 8 July.

For more information go to www.mildura.vic.gov.au/corroboree or call Council on (03) 5018 8100.