Goolum News November 2022

GOOLUM News

HAND UP for cultural strength and mental health

Goolum’s first ever mental health awareness campaign and event HAND UP was a unique opportunity to highlight the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to connect during profound times.

HAND UP celebrates the shared resilience of a strong and connected Mob and acknowledges bravery throughout the healing journey. Goolum has established the campaign to take a proactive approach in raising awareness of mental health issues across our community.

A key focus of our work has been on de stigmatising the ‘shame job’ of seeking support for mental health, enhancing community connection and creating better engagement with

connecting, coming together and sharing stories. These gatherings withhold that same significance today and it has never been more important to put our HAND UP, not only to offer support to others but seek support from others for ourselves in times of need.

Goolum General Manager John Gorton said cultural resilience and connection to family and community were crucial for counteracting these impacts and encouraging positive mental health.

“Days like HAND UP are to bring our people together, hopefully share a laugh and reconnect,” he said. “Our mobs have gone through some enduring times in the past couple of years with a global pandemic that has put pressure on our people, our

negotiations ramping up, as well as a commission into Aboriginal injustices. All of this can get overwhelming for our people.

“To counteract the negative ongoing impacts traumas have had on our peoples’ mental health, it is crucial that we come together and show our cultural resilience.”

The effects of removal of our people from Country, relocation to mission stations and tearing apart of our families has had profound impacts on the continuation of our cultural practices, including language, customs and traditions. To show our cultural resilience, we hosted our first annual HAND UP event. The event kicked off with a walk from Horsham’ s Botanical Gardens to Sawyer Park, followed by a Welcome to Country and Smoking ceremony from Aunty

d the event and provided all the laughs for the day.

Goolum also premiered its HAND UP Indigenous rappers and artists.

acknowledge proud Palawa woman Burnie whose artwork was selected to represent the HAND UP campaign. Her artwork, titled signifies her own journey of putting her hand up and asking for

Expressing Culture Our HAND UP day created opportunities for community members to explore cultural traditions including dancing and facepainting.

November, 2022

We are a primary health and wellbeing organisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people operating on the traditional lands of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Wergaia and Jupagulk peoples.

Goolum Aboriginal Co operative respectfully acknowledges that our offices are based on unceded land of the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawajali, Wergaia and Jupagulk peoples. We pay our respects to their ancestors, and to Elders, both past and present, and to the future Elders and caretakers of this land.

Always was, always will be, Aboriginal Land. Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co operative is excited to launch its new and improved monthly newsletter. As the needs of our community have diversified, its important for Goolum to provide timely information about what’s happening both within in the service and our community.

We will strive to create a publication that will celebrate the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in our community. We want to use this publication to share your stories as well as keep you up to date with what s happening in Goolum. If you have a story you would like to share, please email our Media and Communications Officer Dylan De Jong at dylan.dejong@goolumgoolum.org.au

Meet the Goolum Board of Directors

Goolum

Jake Goodes Chairperson

John Gorton Director

Nola Illin Deputy Chair

Lachlan Marks Secretary

Adrian Morgan Director

Kelly Britten Director

Anthony ‘Ants’ Craig Goolum CEO

More than words could ever describe

The young artist is combining themes of fantasy, anime, and even social justice to introduce his own unique brand of art to the world.

While Yama’s work varies from anime style characters, animals and fantastical beasts, he also uses his unique style to deliver a deeper message to society.

A range of his art takes a headstrong approach to send a message that is yearning for better rights and recognition for First Nations and LGBTIQ peoples. Another piece even touches on the devastating bushfires that killed thousands of wildlife across eastern parts of Australia in early 2020.

A number of his pieces highlight the issues faced by people who identify as both First Nations and Transgender an often underrepresented section of society.

Yama said as someone who identified as both queer and First Nations, he was naturally drawn to explore this style of art.

“Finding that part of my identity, coming to terms with it and coming out to the people around me

was a big part of my high school life,” he said.

“During that period, drawing was a big way to not only draw representation of queer people/ characters, but also gave me access to the queer community.”

He said the medium of art has given him a voice where he could express what he struggled to say with words.

“

It's meaningful because it's a way to express identity without necessarily having to be up in anyone's face. It's not cowardice, it's just different,” he said.

“Sometimes a message in an artwork is what someone needs rather than just a picture to look at. It can be a conversation without words.”

Wotjobaluk artist Yama Harradine is finding a powerful voice in his creativity.

He said art was also a way he could safely convey theses messages about how he felt about the world around him.

“Some people might meet me and think that I’m not a passionate person, but my art says otherwise,” he said.

“It's a way to teach as well and art is a something that gets a conversation going and beckons the question of ‘What’s happening in that picture?’. It can change perspective entirely.

“One thing I do like about it is it's not as easy to misinterpret the message in a negative way. Sometimes words can be taken badly. Art kind of feels safer.”

At only 19 years old, he has already created many digital artworks and featured in local exhibitions around the region.

“Some of my pieces have evolved around the idea of ‘always was always will be’. Which is the main signage on my first piece,” Yama said.

“The story of that piece is the DNA from the Elder at the top is passing on to a man and a woman and the blood trickles down to your more modern day blackfella, really encapsulating the rights we have been fighting for.”

Yama first became interested in art at a young age. He moved further into the digital his main platform.

Before he even had access to an IPad and programs such as Procreate, he was using his IPhone 6 to create his art.

The online world has been where Yama has felt most at home, accepted and part of a community. He said it was also where he has gained a lot of motivation for his ideas.

“I gain a lot of inspiration from digital artists across social media, mainly Instagram. a lot of different communities online in the digital space, said.

“Years ago, I used to really gain inspiration from an Instagram account, a Brazilian artist, who created fan art of the cartoon Steven Universe.

“Although my style doesn comes back to that motivation of wanting to be able to pick up that sort of skill and get to that level. Especially as self a lot of help from the internet that was my community before anything else. I was able to pick up a lot of my skills from analysing what I see online.

Breast Cancer Awareness Brunch October

No Water, No Problem!

We trialled an entirely new format for the Wimmera River Challenge this year.

An on Country Canoe race, modelled off the famous waterless regatta in Alice Springs, was the centrepiece of this year’s Challenge on November 4 and 5. General Manager Johnny Gorton said the race was a unique first for the Co operative led event and he hoped it would help bring our community together and reconnect.

“The unpredictable nature of the Wimmera River this year influenced our decision to move away from the traditional water based canoe and kayak challenge to a land based challenge,” he said.

“This year we built our own unique land canoes out of pipe and materials, modelled off what you would see in Alice Springs at the Henley On Todd Dry River Boat Regatta.

“Teams raced in bottomless ‘kayaks’ across our designated course at the Riverside Caravan Park along the banks of the Wimmera River in Dimboola.”

The annual Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co Operative Wimmera River Challenge is supported by Grampians Dhelk Dja Action Group and a range of local community service providers.

On Friday the 4th of November, Community Services from across the region were invited to join at Riverside Caravan Park in Dimboola to participate in our Wimmera River ‘Corporate’ Challenge. We started the day with a Welcome to Country at 10am, followed by a group walk of the area and community lunch. Following the lunch, everyone was invited to be part of our annual corporate challenge, featuring the land boat race and partake in the fun and games.

All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members and their families were then welcome to camp at Dimboola Caravan Park on Friday and Saturday nights and will include a range of activities (both cultural & non cultural) for all ages.

The Saturday formal activities began with an 8am breakfast, followed by another land race and other activities for families, concluding with a lunch at the camping grounds. A new feature of the event this year was a fishing challenge hosted by Goolum’ s local Men’s Group. Local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and their families then enjoyed another night of camping and games.

The groups supporting this year’s challenge include Barengi Gadjin Land Council, Wimmera PCP, Grampians Community Health, Victoria Police, Wimmera Southern Mallee LLEN, Skillinvest, The Orange Door, Uniting Wimmera and Wimmera CMA.

Johnny said the Wimmera River Challenge created an opportunity for services and organisations to network within the community and help to break down barriers and improve relationships.

“

The challenge started as a way to foster closer ties between Victoria Police and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, but has since expanded to include several other organisations,” he said.

Johnny thanked Goolum staff for their assistance in reviving the challenge after a few years off.

He also thanked all the sponsors for supporting the 2022 Wimmera River Challenge including our major sponsors Grampians Dhelk Dja Action Group and GO MOB!

Want to see more

Photo gallery pages 10and 11

Ready to Run! Contestants will leave the paddles at home this year in exchange for a unique land canoe race for this year’s Wimmera River Challenge. Picture: From left to right Goolum’s Health and Wellbeing team Kira Marks Lovett, Kym Bateson, Tyson King and Brittany Healey.