14 May 2025
By James Mullan
North Sydney is set to celebrate First Nations culture with this year’s Gai-mariagal Festival, running from May 26 to July 13. The festival will feature several events, including film screenings, workshops, art installations, and children’s activities.
Featured events include writers at Stanton Library where children’s author Melissa-Jane Fogarty will present her book “Tubowgule” in an interactive talk. The book tells the history of the Sydney Opera House site from its time as a ceremonial place for the Gadi people.
Another highlight is an Indigenous culture family walk and stone art workshop at The Coal Loader, Waverton. Koori Kinnections will run a guided bushwalk exploring native plants and rock engraving sites, followed by a hands-on stone art session.
Artist Dr. Virginia Keft will lead art workshops involving printmaking, weaving, and yarning circles. Her installation “Weaving Sky Stories” will also be featured at public art sites, exploring the sky as a living narrative.
The festival will also include a screening of Wiradjuri artist Jazz Money’s film “WINHANGANHA,” The film explores archival inheritances shaping present realities through NFSA collections of First Nations works. This five-act film poem acknowledges historical horrors, joys, and beauties, questioning power dynamics in storytelling. It will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Nathan Sentance.
