Special Indigenous welcome to country for Sydney NYE

The connection between Indigenous people and the land will be celebrated as part of this year's New Year's Eve celebrations in Sydney.

A preview of the welcome to country that will be included in this year's Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations.

A preview of the welcome to country that will be included in this year's Sydney New Year's Eve celebrations. Source: Supplied

The Sydney Harbour Bridge will be the canvas for a special New Year's Eve welcome to country message as part of this year's fireworks display.

Images will be broadcast on the pylons on either end of the bridge  while red and yellow fireworks will turn the bridge into an Aboriginal flag.

"I’m thrilled the City is honouring Sydney’s First Peoples with this beautiful welcome to country that will be watched by millions in Australia and across the world," Lord Mayor Clover Moore said.
"Our theme this year is ‘City of Colour’ – it’s a recognition of the wonderful diversity of this city and with this powerful Welcome to Country we are celebrating the talent, culture and creativity of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities."

The welcome to country creative director Rhoda Roberts said the imagery to be projected on the pylons would include natural landscpaes and the flora and fauna symbols of the local clan totems.

"This year’s Sydney New Year’s Eve Welcome to Country celebrates the connection that Australia’s First Peoples have with the land in a way that’s inclusive and fun," Ms Roberts said.

"It was a challenge to show our ever-adapting culture using contemporary elements like pylon projections and pyrotechnics but I think everyone will be enthralled on the night."

Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council chief executive Nathan Moran said the organisation was "depply honoured and overjoyed that the Sydney New Year’s Eve celebration will have a specific focus on respecting the First Nations Australians of Sydney Harbour – the Gadigal, Wangal and Gamaragal clans of the Eora Nation".

"The City of Sydney involved the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council right from the design stage of the Welcome to Country and we believe this is a template that all organisations should learn from for effectively working with First Nations people," he said.

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Source: SBS News


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