Media Release
16 July 2016
An art exhibition and Aboriginal storytelling are among a series of events celebrating Australia’s Indigenous cultures hosted by the Australian Embassy Jakarta during National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week.
The exhibition, Yiwarra Kuju: The Canning Stock Route, features stories and artworks by Aboriginal artists from Australia’s Western Desert. It tells of family, culture, conflict and survival, and the impact of a droving road on the Aboriginal people whose homelands it crossed.
Celebrated Australian narrator Larry Brandy, a Wiradjuri man from New South Wales, will present a series of interactive storytelling sessions for children with Indonesian storyteller Kak Resha in recognition of this year’s NAIDOC Week theme, ‘Songlines: The living narrative of our nation’.
The Australian Embassy’s Chargé d’Affaires, Justin Lee, addressed the opening reception today at Alun-Alun Indonesia in Grand Indonesia Mall, Central Jakarta.
“NAIDOC Week is a celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders,” Dr Lee said.
“It is especially significant to have with us in Jakarta Larry Brandy who, along with Kak Resha, will share his traditional stories with the community as part of our NAIDOC Week celebrations.”
The Embassy will also host a storytelling session for schoolchildren before Larry Brandy and Kak Resha continue their journey to Makassar and Bali.
In honour of NAIDOC week, the Embassy’s next movie screening, on 30 July, will be The Sapphires, a musical comedy-drama about an indigenous band who head to Vietnam to entertain troops at war in 1968.
Media enquiries:
[email protected]
+ 62 811 1440 147