Culture Up Late Celebrates Resilience of Aboriginal Culture

The Australian Museum presents Ngalu Warawi Marri - We Stand Strong, a night of Aboriginal stories on the eve of Australia Day.

20 January 2017, Sydney, Australia: On the eve of Australia Day, a day of mixed emotions for many first Australians, the Australian Museum (AM) is inviting visitors to reflect on our nation’s shared history, celebrate our diversity and engage in a national conversation.

As part of this Summer’s Culture Up Late program on Wednesday 25 January, the AM presents Ngalu Warawi Marri – We Stand Strong, an evening of entertainment, art and film highlighting the resilience of Aboriginal culture.

“With our extraordinary Indigenous collections, we have long celebrated and paid tribute to the contribution the First Australians have made to our nation’s cultural development,” Kim McKay AO, Director and CEO of the Australian Museum said.

“This event continues in that tradition, bringing together many Aboriginal cultural perspectives through performances, films, storytelling and traditional crafts, celebrating the world’s longest living culture.”

Wailwan woman and Creative Producer at the Australian Museum, Laura McBride, said that for many Indigenous people, January 26 marked the date an invasion took place.

“The Ngalu Warawi Marri program is an opportunity for us to share our culture and history with visitors and allow them to make their own decisions about Australia’s history and the relationship with Aboriginal people,” she said.

Highlighting themes of continuity, resilience and sustainability, visitors to Ngalu Warwawi Marri will be able to experience a vibrant program including:

• 88, the landmark documentary that explores the remarkable events that led up to January 26th 1988, the largest protest since the Vietnam Moratorium with over 30,000 Aboriginal people marching as a reminder that white Australia has a black history. (6-7.30pm in the AM Theatre).
• Join writer and performer, Travis De Vries, for an intimate evening of original tales based on traditional Indigenous storytelling. Travis constructs a dark tapestry of imagination featuring a suite of gods, monsters and mega fauna.
• Engage with Gadigal elder, Nadeena Dixon as she weaves fish nets, language, and stories, into a multifaceted experience of Aboriginal knowledge systems.
• Witness Australia’s foremost Indigenous female blues writer and performer, Marlene Cummins (Black Panther Woman), as she performs her songs that tell a story of vulnerability, strength and survival from an Aboriginal woman’s perspective in this country. (5.30 pm and 7.30pm in the Atrium).
• Experience Lynette Wallworth’s Collisions, virtual reality storytelling which invites you deep into the Western Australian desert, home to the Martu tribe and community elder Nyarri Morgan, who shares his first encounter with Western culture – an atomic detonation.
• Join Dr Stan Florek as he showcases Aboriginal technology from the vaults of the Museum and reflects on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture in prehistoric context

An initiative of the NSW Government, Culture Up Late sees the Australian Museum, the Art Gallery of NSW, the NSW State Library, Museum of Applied Arts & Sciences, Sydney Opera House, Carriageworks and the Museum of Contemporary Art all open late every Wednesday in Summer 2017, commencing 11 January 2017.

NGALU WARAWI MARRI - WE STAND STRONG

When: Wednesday 25 January, 5.00 PM to 09.00 PM
Where: Australian Museum, entry corner of College and William Streets
Tickets: BUY-1-GET-1-FREE! $22 Adult, $15 Concession, $13 Child; $10 Member Adult, $8 Member Concession, $7 Member Child Includes admission to Spiders – Alive & Deadly.

(Ngalu Warawi Marri means 'We stand strong' in Gadigal. The event was named by Elder Nadeena Dixon)

Australian Museum’s 190th Anniversary

In 2017, the Australian Museum (AM) celebrates 190 years, marking its significant role as the nation’s first museum. In the lead up to its bicentenary, the AM is embarking on major transformation plans to secure its place as the leading natural science and culture museum in the region.

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MEDIA CONTACT
Claire Vince, Media Advisor, Australian Museum
P 02 9320 6181 M 61 468 726 910
claire.vince@austmus.gov.au