Ku-ring-gai builds legacies with Gai-mariagal Festival

Published on 21 May 2025

walangari sand painting.jpg

Gai-mariagal Festival is a celebration of the oldest living culture on the planet.

The annual festival begins on National Sorry Day on 26 May and runs until the end of NAIDOC Week on 13 July.

This year’s theme is ‘Legacies for Future Generations’, inviting all people to create legacies of cultural strength, justice, and unity.

Events in Ku-ring-gai include:

  • Sand painting with Aboriginal Elder and artist Walangari Karntawarra at Wahroonga Park
  • Nature play inspired by the Rainbow Serpent at the Wildflower Garden in St Ives
  • Cultural wellbeing and ‘mini day spa’ with bush beauty products by Baagi Milaygiin 
  • Film screening of Homeland Story at Gordon Library
  • Indigenous heritage guided bush tucker walk and presentation
  • Cultural awareness and painting workshop at Ku-ring-gai Art Centre
  • NAIDOC Week children’s workshops at St Ives Showground, including weaving, cultural dance, sand stories and stone art.

Gai-mariagal Festival Co-Chair Susan Moylan-Coombs said the theme is call to action to stand together and reset relationships.

“This festival is not just a celebration; it is an invitation to every person who calls this place home, an invitation to step into a future built on honesty, respect, and responsibility,” Ms Moylan-Coombs said. 

“We call on all people to honour the enduring spirit of First Nations peoples, to listen with open hearts, and to contribute actively to creating legacies of cultural strength, justice, and unity for the generations yet to come.”

Mayor Christine Kay said Ku-ring-gai Council is a proud partner of the festival, which is now in its 24th year. 

“Gai-mariagal Festival is an opportunity for us all to come together as a community and pay our respects to the oldest living continuous culture on earth,” Mayor Kay said.

“Our support for the festival is just one of the ways we are working to support and strengthen cultural awareness in our community.”

Gai-mariagal Festival was founded in 2001 to raise awareness of First Nations people living in northern Sydney. 

The festival committee includes representatives from local government, other agencies, businesses and numerous community groups. 

Bookings are essential for festival events in Ku-ring-gai, visit krg.nsw.gov.au/gaimariagal

For more information about Gai-mariagal events outside of Ku-ring-gai visit gai-mariagalfestival.com.au 

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Media enquiries: media@krg.nsw.gov.au or 9424 0000

 

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