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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2024-04-11 Daily Xml
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Kulilaya Festival

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:51): My question is for the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Will the minister inform the council about the festival recently celebrated in the APY lands?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:51): I thank the honourable member for his question. He is frequently very helpful. On Sunday 24 March, I was privileged to be amongst hundreds of people who came together at Umuwa to celebrate the Kulilaya Festival. It was an overcast sky on the red sands on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands in the heart of Australia to celebrate, belatedly, 40 years of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Land Rights Act.

The APY Land Rights Act granted inalienable freehold title to Anangu. It was a nation-leading piece of legislation and it has not been replicated to the same degree since. It was a culmination of sustained efforts by elders and land rights activists who were honoured at the Kulilaya Festival. The word 'kulilaya' in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara roughly translates to 'listen', and certainly that word gave birth to a song that was sung regularly during the late seventies and early eighties when Anangu protested in the streets of Adelaide for land rights. It's been a song that I know has been sung regularly by the Ernabella Choir, the APY Choir and the Iwiri Choir.

The act passed in 1981, after many committee hearings of the then government of Don Dunstan. It was the Tonkin Liberal government who finally passed the act in 1981, and celebrations were originally scheduled for 2021, but of course COVID disrupted much of what was going on in the world, including the 40th anniversary celebrations which were celebrated, as I said, a couple of weeks ago.

I would like to acknowledge members of parliament from right across the political spectrum—from the Liberal Party, from the Greens, from SA-Best—who journeyed to the heart of the country to celebrate with Anangu. The day was a fantastic celebration of Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara culture. Inma, or ceremony, was performed by young and old people and it was awe-inspiring to see the world's oldest living culture on display and being expressed.

Many musical performances made up the day with bands playing into the night, which is not an unusual occurrence in communities across the APY lands, but it was unusual to have seven bands from the Central Desert region playing together at Umuwa: bands like Mala, the Pukatja Band, Desert Rain, the Docker River Band and, in particular, emerging hip-hop artists, whom I have mentioned before in this chamber, Dem Mob. Dem Mob's success story, performing, as I have talked about at Primavera Festival in Spain last year, also supported Seth Sentry on his national tour. I encourage anyone who is a great fan of Australian music to get along to the show with Seth Sentry and Dem Mob. I think there are tickets still left on Sunday the 28th at the Lion Arts Factory. Sir, I know you will be keen to support emerging hip-hop in Australia, as you usually are.

The Iwiri Choir was certainly a highlight of the day for many who were there. It has a stellar reputation, and deservedly so. A fantastic aspect of the performance was all the children from local schools joining the choir to sing with them at the end of their performance.

Emcees were Donald Fraser and Melissa Thompson. Mr Fraser, of course, was instrumental in land rights discussions way back in the late seventies and eighties, and Melissa Thompson's dad, the late Kawaki 'Punch' Thompson was also very instrumental in the land rights movement of the seventies and eighties. There were many speakers and Melissa Thompson gave reflections that were especially poignant on her father's legacy.

There were other important speeches of the day from community leaders like Owen Burton, the Deputy Chair of the APY Executive Board, and Donald Fraser, as I mentioned, and Trevor Adamson. The Kulilaya Festival was supported by the South Australian government and the Adelaide Fringe, as well as Rotary and other sponsors. I would like to thank all those who got involved and who made the festival something worth celebrating.

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