A month before the 2023 referendum on an Indigenous Voice to parliament and Recognition in the Australian Constitution, the central Victorian town of Castlemaine hosted a concert in support of the YES vote. Featuring Dja Dja Wurrung, Yorta Yorta and Wadawurrung elders and custodians, local whitefella artists and national music legends, the concert played to a full house in Castlemaine’s Theatre Royal, and raised $9500 for the YES campaign. Amidst a national debate that was acrimonious, at times nasty and often hurtful to Indigenous Australians, the night in the Theatre Royal was a moment of joy and healing, a powerful, heartfelt coming together, a vision of what Australia could be. Sadly, that vision was blighted with 60% of Australians voting NO (Castlemaine voted 60% YES).

However, the campaign for justice for Aboriginal people and for us all to come to an honest reckoning with Australia’s history continues, and in Reconciliation Week 2024 the concert will be online for everyone who missed this special night, and for those who were there to experience the great feeling again.

The Film includes most of the Concert as presented and features the performances of UNCLE RICK & AUNTIE PAULETTE NELSON , KERRI DOUGLAS, BARRY GILSON, KELLY ANN BLAKE, RON MURRAY-SARAH JAMES [KINJA], JOHN BRADLEY, NEIL MURRAY, FAY WHITE, CATE KENNEDY, SHANE HOWARD, JAN WOSITZKY, ANDREW SKEOCH, SARAH KOSCHAK.

The Coolroom at Northern Arts Hotel
Sunday June 2, 2.30pm

There will also be a public screening of the concert during Reconciliation Week:

Free but book with us to ensure you have somewhere to sit!

The online video and The Coolroom screening are both proudly part of the Central Victorian Indigenous Film Festival. and National Reconciliation Week 2024

BIOS OF PERFORMERS

Uncle Rick Nelson & Auntie Paulette Nelson: Senior Dja Dja Wurrung leaders who live in Castlemaine. Many local occasions have been blessed by smoking ceremonies and Welcome to Country from the Nelson family.

Kerri Douglas: is a proud Dja Dja Wurrung and Bangerang artist, whose passion and love of her culture inspires her artworks, in various styles that reflect Nature and her Aboriginal heritage. In this concert, along with Uncle Rick Nelson and Auntie Paulette Nelson, Kerri will conduct a special Welcome to Country.

Barry Gilson: is a Wadawurrung man, singer-songwriter, award winning poet and storyteller. He brings back the past through stories, song and Dreamtime poems that etch a path towards a greater understanding of Wadawurrung and First Nations culture.

Kelly Ann Blake: is a proud Wadawurrung woman and lives with her three children on Dja Dja Wurrung Country. She is completing a Master’s Degree in Archaeology at La Trobe University. Kelly hopes that her journey can be a spark of inspiration for other women.

Auntie Diana Travis OAM: is a Yorta Yorta/Wamba Wamba woman, and the granddaughter of the much loved and respected activist for Aboriginal Rights, Sir Pastor Doug Nicholls. As a 19yo, Auntie Di travelled with Doug Nicholls on the 1967 referendum campaign trail and was awarded her OAM for community work throughout her life and as an advocate for justice.

Kinja: means ‘my home’, and consists of Ron Murray, from the Wamba Wamba people around Swan Hill, and Sarah James, a city girl of Scottish ancestry. Their haunting music on didjeridu and violin blends the Indigenous and Celtic backgrounds, transcending cultural differences.

Dr John Bradley: has spent 43 years working with and for the Yanyuwa people of the south west Gulf of Carpentaria. This has involved documenting and speaking the Yanyuwa language and being taught the Kujika - songlines - by the old men and women.

Neil Murray: was a founder of the pioneering 1980s Warumpi Band, with the iconic anthems My Island Home and Blackfella Whitefella. Now a maverick, award-winning solo singer and songwriter, Neil is a deep, soulful journey into our culture, history and music heritage. His new album is The Telling.

Fay White: is a singer-songwriter with a lifetime of working within and for communities – leading choirs across Australia, writing and recording songs about the environment and land care, working in schools, and recently fulfilling a commission to put the poems of Michael Leunig to music.

Cate Kennedy: is a writer of fiction, poetry & non-fiction whose work has been widely published & anthologised. She currently lives and works in Dja Dja Warrung country and is working on a new poetry collection as she teaches workshops and mentors other writers.

Shane Howard AM: For over 40 years Shane has been a unique voice in our culture and one of Australia's most influential writers and singers. Songs from Solid Rock, Sacred Ground (Goanna Band) to Let the Franklin Flow have changed people’s minds, and over a profound solo career many other songs have sung up a compassionate heart-map of Australia.

Jan ‘Yarn’ Wositzky OAM: is a storyteller and musician. From a Czech-Scots migrant family, Jan has immersed himself in Australian stories and song, including as a founder of The Bushwackers Band, and many years working with Yanyuwa, Garrwa and Wardaman people ‘up north’ on their stories.

Sarah Koschak: has spent the last 35 years as a landscape and nature photographer, travelling extensively throughout Australia and overseas. These days she is a potter and has a studio in Newstead.

Andrew Skeoch: is a naturalist, sound recordist, environmental thinker, and author of ‘Deep Listening to Nature’. He has published nature recordings from around the world, and this experience informs his public speaking events and writings.

Stephanie Carson, Tara Flinn & Briony Phillips: are singers who share a love of singing of harmonies. Their voices have come together as choir members, backing vocalists and band mates, in Pubsing Castlemaine, the Macapella Singers, directing Castlemaine Idyll and the band, Friends of Wendy Cotton. Catch them around town, both individually and together.

CREW ON THE ORIGINAL CONCERT

Stage Manager: Bela Warmington, Stage Sound: Stefan Brown, Wrangler: Tim Ratcliffe, Lights/AV: Jim Austin, Front of House Sound: Mark Woods, Video of John Bradley: Clive Willman & Liz Eager, Design and Marketing: Johannes Factotum
Additional photos: Courtesy of Neil Murray, Auntie Diana Travis, Tourism NT, Mervyn Bishop; Show Film: Scott Sanders, Robbie Noakes & Clive Willman Show Photographer: Stewart Carter - so watch out for that online soon. Stage Décor: Frances Cincotta & Trace Balla, Food & refreshments: Dimity Fifer & others, Beer provided by Love Shack. General Support: Susan Fricke, Vic Say, Kaye Swanton and the many more at Castlemaine Yes23

WITH SPECIAL THANKS

A heartfelt thank you to everyone in the show, on and off the stage, and to Tim Heath and Felicity Cripps for giving us the Theatre Royal for the night. Support provided by Humanists Victoria, a sub fund of Australian Communities Foundation. Funds raised go to the Yes23 campaign.