Guest speaker Angeline Penrith and Uncle Paul Bulger cutting the cake.
Celebrating 50 Years of Deadly, Gundagai’s 2026 NAIDOC Week was a brilliant success in a collaboration of community and celebration of culture.
Capping off the week with a record 120 ticket sale for their Mawang Ball, Secretary Regina Russell says the ball was one of their biggest nights to date.
“It was the first time we have sold out of tickets, which shows good contribution across the Indigenous community and the wider community,” she says.
“We had a variety of people [attend], which is really good to see.”
Maintaining their ethos of “everyone is welcome to attend and celebrate”, Regina says their success has been an eye opener.
“It was really good to see all of our recipients attend too, because previously we had a few absent… They were able to accept and have their own speech, which was really nice,” she says.
“We were really lucky with Bendigo Bank in Gundagai being one of our major sponsors, which was very helpful [as] it allows us to get our guest speaker, Angeline Penrith, whose speech was unreal.
“When she spoke and read her play out, we were in awe of her.
“We were also lucky that we were able to get RivMed in Wagga, which Brungle Medical Centre and the Brungle Community Centre are part of, to come on board again this year and sponsor the Wagga photo booth – which is really popular.”
A time for reflection, pride and celebration, Regina says this year’s theme perfectly encapsulated everything NAIDOC.
“We were able to celebrate culture, community and connection in Gundagai, which is really special,” she says.
“We are really happy, and it is not just for Aboriginal people, it is a community event, and we want to celebrate together and celebrate NAIDOC Week as a whole community.
“It is the whole point behind reconciliation as well: We move forward and try to work together.”
Expanding every year, Regina says their volunteers do incredible work in ensuring the First Nations culture is celebrating in Gundagai.
“The Elders are the backbone,” she says.
“They know what they want to see in Gundagai and what they love to celebrate with everyone, and I feel like us younger ones are just trying our best to drive that for them.”
Reaching a large assortment of people, from their early 20s up until late 80s, Regina says it made for a great celebration of humanity and community.
Kicking off the night with a superb didgeridoo performance, Chris Bell wowed the crowd, lasting well over a minute as he put his circular breathing on show.
“It was really good to see and he did so well,” says Regina.
“He was amazing in my eyes.”
Another highlight from the event was the dinner from Tian Restaurant with lamb and chicken meals on offer.
A truly memorable night and a fitting place to celebrate and commemorate.
On to what is likely to be an even bigger and (if it could be possible) better event next year.
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