Long anticipated Giiyong Festival hosted at Jigamy Farm, NSW, titled a 'huge success'!

The rainy conditions on Saturday, April 9, were no match for the sheer determination of attendees of the Giiyong festival.

Twofold Aboriginal Corporation school trainee, Mataya Barber, said most people had come prepared on the day, equipped for the weather and those who didn't embraced it.

"A majority of people were just walking around barefoot in the mud," she said.

Giiyong Festival project manager, Jazz Williams, confirmed the day was a huge success despite significant weather challenges.

"The day before the festival we had to abandon our planned site in the large paddock down by Pambula Lake and relocate the entire event to a different part of the Jigamy property," Ms Williams said.

Ms Williams said the event then became both an indoor and outdoor event, utilising the Monaroo Bobberrer Gudu Keeping Place.

"Despite the urgent last minute pivot, the incredible crew, production team and volunteers managed to adapt and deliver a highly professional and dynamic event," she said.

Ms Williams said Giiyong Festival held much more significance than simply being a single day of entertainment and cultural education.

"Giiyong is about building capacity within the Aboriginal arts sector in our region, and the legacy of opportunity for emerging Aboriginal artists that continues after the event," she said.

"The festival is a highly important opportunity for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities to come together on a large scale in celebration and appreciation of Aboriginal artists and culture."

Twofold Aboriginal manager of cultural inclusion and member of the Giiyong organizing committee, Alison Simpson, said the 2022 Giiyong Festival was their third attempt.

"We were supposed to have it in 2020 but then of course COVID happened, it was the same again in 2021, so it's been three years in the making," she said.

Ms Simpson said that from her conversations with local Aboriginal people on the day, there had been a great joy and excitement to share their Indigenous culture.

"There was that pure sense of pride, excitement and enjoyment, and the members of the Indigenous community that I engaged with were just buzzing," she said.

Ms Simpson said one of the integral elements of the festival was the collaboration of people learning and sharing together to embrace the local Indigenous culture.

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"It's about us embracing our history, learning together and sharing together on this journey of healing," she said.

"It's really important to have non-Aboriginal people embracing our culture and participating in a festival like this, it assists us in healing."

The sunset corroboree featuring four dance groups from across the Yuin Nation was performed at 5.30pm, a performance many found "profound" and "spiritual".

"I was performing in it but from the perspective of people watching it, people said they'd never experienced something like that before," Ms Simpson said.

"One girl in particular said 'the only way I can explain it is that it was something spiritual'."

Ms Simpson said the weather had also cleared up for the duration of the dance, with heavy rainfall beginning again once the dancers stepped back indoors.

"There was no rain leading up to it, and once we'd done our dances and left the stage to go back to the keeping place, it just poured rain," she said.

"It was just really special."

As the project manager of the festival and also as Arts and Cultural programs officer with South East Arts, Jazz Williams said the performances, dances and cultural presentations were such high quality overall she could scarcely choose a highlight.

"William Barton's performance was transcendent, Buddy Knox Blues Band was a dream, the Giiyong Gumleaf Band delivered an historic performance, Briggs blew the roof off the building and the sunset corroboree was outstanding and profound," she said.

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"Many local emerging artists shone on the day too, and the important thing about Giiyong Festival is that it is an opportunity for our local performers to raise the bar and share the stage with national acts such as Shellie Morris, Stiff Gins and the like."

Giiyong Festival was produced by South East Arts, in partnership with Twofold Aboriginal Corporation and Eden Local Aboriginal Land Council.