Deborah O'Neill (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the amazing Five Lands Walk that was held on the Central Coast on Saturday. It traversed five of our fantastic beaches, hence the name 'The Five Lands Walk'. After having had a week of rain on the Central Coast, the sun shone for us on Saturday, and 10,000 people walked the beaches from MacMasters through Copacabana, Avoca, North Avoca and over the hill into Terrigal. This was no small thing to achieve and I want to pay tribute today to the people who made the day such a wonderful event. Firstly, I acknowledge the president and the vice-president of the organisation for the Five Lands Walk, Con Ryan and Pauline Wright. They had 400 amazing organisers and performers who worked alongside them. In terms of leadership of our Indigenous community I want to acknowledge here in this place Gavi Duncan, Phil Bligh, John Oates and Denise Markham for their amazing leadership throughout the year for the Indigenous community of our area, the Darkinjung and Guringai peoples, but also I want to acknowledge their particular contribution on the day. John Oates led a group of people who in fact created the very first corroboree that has happened in hundreds of years on the sandy beach that we call MacMasters and Copacabana beach, better known to the Indigenous people as the Tudibaring and Bulbaring Headland in the region of the Bouddi National Park. To facilitate all of this was no small achievement. Participating in the dances that the corroboree revealed to us was Stuart Smith, one of the really great young leaders of our Indigenous community.

I want to acknowledge Gary Clark, John Seisun, Mardi Love, Rick Parsons and Peter George, the leaders of our local surf lifesaving community, who facilitated the walk and I also want to put on the record that Kasey Chambers helped out not with song but with cutting fruit and veg and delivering beautiful food at Copacabana. We connected people to place and people to people. We connected the Italian, the African, the Maori, the Filipino and also the Greek communities with the Indigenous communities and all the visitors to our area. I want to congratulate Central Coast Tourism—in particular Ollie Philpott and Chris King and the artistic direction team, Nicola Read, Chris Woulfe and Pauline Wright, who doubled up in that role as well.

Our students from Copacabana Primary School and Avoca Beach Primary School participated and created beautiful art which decorated the beach. Sue Lewis as the principal of Copacabana school has been an outstanding advocate for connecting our community in Copacabana to people and to place. The photographic exhibition was also wonderfully coordinated by Sandy James. I want to say that next year you should all do the Five Lands Walk on the Central Coast. (Time expired)

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