Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Friday I had the honour of attending the Musgrave Park Family Fun Day, part of NAIDOC Week celebrations. I was one of around 25,000 people who attended. It was a massive event with almost 200 stalls. I had the pleasure and privilege of listening to Uncle Des' welcome to country. I was really grateful to Scott Anderson, Albert Bowie and the other organisers for inviting me along, and it was a particular privilege to meet Auntie Joan shortly after the opening festivities.

The Nunukul Yuggera dancers were a fantastic traditional dance troupe. They informed me that they are soon to travel overseas to take their brand of dance international, which is a really great opportunity for some of the very young dancers in that troupe. I also saw more contemporary forms of art. A Wudjal Wudjal group had travelled all the way down to Brisbane to perform: the Cold Water Band are a wonderful reggae inspired group who have recently released an EP. I was also fortunate to meet other local and interstate Aboriginal and Islander performers.

It was also really nice to catch up with the 2 Spirits program, a program from the Queensland AIDS Council that reaches out to Indigenous communities to raise awareness of and respect for HIV/AIDS—a very important piece of work from that organisation. It was great to catch up with them at their stall. It was wonderful to be part of NAIDOC Week and I look forward to next year's NAIDOC Week.