Be Counted Edition 14

Monday, March 21, 2011 Edition 14 cost: $1.00

BE COUNTEDissn: 1837-9176

INSIDE

Jake on way to journalism

dream. P2

Kirsty wins employee of the year. P3

Youth Summit

P8

Plenty to cheer about at Bumehla Festival

some of the many performers at this year’s inaugural Bumehla Festival.

WHETHER it was cultural performances, great music, bush tucker or a job you wanted - the Bumehla Festival had it all.The free public festival

was held at the Broadwater Parklands on February 11 and 12, and was packed with events, appearances and entertainment.Bangarra Dance Theatre,

Brothablack, Dan Sultan, Microwave Jenny, The Mununjali Banam Yilgamn dancers, and the Jaran Dancers were among the performances attracting large crowds.“Being a proud Aboriginal

man, the All Stars is a concept that I truly support and I am thrilled to be a part of the game

this year,” Dan Sultan said. “Performing in front of a

sell-out crowd on Saturday and such a large gathering of my people at both the game and the Bumehla Festival will be a career highlight and I can’t wait.”But drawing the biggest crowd

was the Indigenous All Stars team collecting their jerseys after walking through a guard of honour. ARL Indigenous Council Chairman William ‘Smiley’ Johnstone, and Minister for Indigenous Health Warren Snowden presented the players with their match jerseys.The festival also offered fans

a variety of free events and activities for kids and adults alike including an Indigenous

Employment Expo, One Community and Titans Junior League clinics, Indigenous art workshops, bush tucker cooking demonstrations, dance workshops, Indigenous local yarns and stories, traditional food and craft.Queensland Premier Anna

Bligh said it was a great celebration of the diversity of Rugby League – a game which brings people of all cultures together.NRL Chief Executive, Mr

David Gallop said: “The Bumehla Festival is a fantastic addition to the All Stars and provides us with an added opportunity to recognise and celebrate the heritage and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.”

BE COUNTED2 Monday March 21, 2011

CONTENTS EmplOyEE Of ThE yEar hONOrS ......................P3

BluESfEST COmmiTmENT TO iNdigENOuS arTiSTS p4

ClOSE ThE hEalTh gap COlumN .................... p5

mOrE piCTurES frOm BumEhla fESTival .......... p6

yOuTh SummiT ............................................. p8

JamES BrOwN ............................................. p9

iNdigENOuS all STarS ........................... p10-12

This paper acknowledges the traditional owners of the areas of distribution.

DISCLAIMER: All material is printed at the discretion of the publishers, but does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the publishers.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR POLICY: All letters must be signed (name will be withheld on request) profanity is unacceptable. All letters are subject to editing for clarity by the editor. The publisher or editor of Be Counted reserves the right to edit or withhold from publication any letter for any reason whatsoever. Letters reflect the opinion of the author, not necessarily that of Be Counted or its staff, nor does it take any responsibility of the views stated by those who write to the editor.

COPYRIGHT: All material in Be Counted is copyright. No part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission of the publisher. © Be Counted 2011

EDITOR: Solua Middleton

PUBLISHER: Solua Middleton

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Be Counted would like to thank contributors: Gold Coast United, James Brown, Clinton Schultz and Ursula Skjonnemand.

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On the job experience

By soLUa MiddLEton

‘JAKE Duke’ is a name to watch in the future for Indigenous media.

He’s studying to be a journalist and thanks to a three year cadetship from the Gold Coast Titans he’s well on the way of achieving his dream.The former Palm Beach

Currumbin student has aspirations to become a television journalist.He’s just started his first

year in journalism at the Queensland University of Technology.“I want to get out there

and talk to people, and it’s something I’ve always been interested in doing,” he said.“I’ve always been

interested in current affairs.”But it’s the hands on

experience with the Gold Coast Titans he hopes will set him apart from others in such a competitive industry.When Be Counted

met Jake Duke, he was already walking around with a camera in his hands filming the lead up to the Rugby League All Stars clash, and it’s an

opportunity he reckons is amazing.The 17 year-old also

holds the view that there aren’t enough Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander journalists out there in the field, and he would like to see greater recognition in the mainstream media.“I never really see many

Indigenous people in the media, I’d like to really break down that barrier and get out there, do my best and strive for the top,” he said. “It’s also a chance to

meet and talk to new people.”

Jake duke is ready to represent his people in media.

BE COUNTED 3 Monday March 21, 2011

GOLD Coast City Council will lend its support to the inaugural Queensland Murri Carnival (QMC). The carnival, to be staged at Firth

Park, Mudgeeraba in September, will involve 56 teams and is expected to attract an audience of between 20,000 and 30,000 people. The Community and Cultural

Development Committee recommended Council contribute funds to assist with temporary infrastructure and field preparation for the carnival. Committee Chair, Councillor Bob

La Castra, said the QMC aimed to raise the representation of Indigenous players in the National Rugby League from the current 11% to 15%. “This event will provide

opportunity for players to work towards representation at a national level and hopefully earn a reputation as a highly competitive and desirable tournament in which to compete,” said Cr La Castra. “With the QMC expected to

involve 2,000 competitors and up to 30,000 spectators, this event has the potential to bring significant economic benefit to the Gold Coast.” The QMC will include 32

open-age teams vying for the State crown known as the Lionel Morgan cup; 16 under-15 teams in a knockout format competing for selection in the state Under 16 Murri team; and eight women’s teams, competing for the chance to progress to state or national teams. Cr La Castra said the committee

had also pledged a cash contribution towards the Gold Coast Champions Cup (soccer), also to be held in September.

Gold Coast to host inaugural Indigenous Rugby League carnival

sKiLLEd Group’s regional Manager adrian Baker, area supervisor rachael Quinlan, award winner Kirsty o’Keeffe, council’s director Engineering and

operations Patrick Knight and sKiLLEd area supervisor Warren drew.

TWEED Shire Council trainee Kirsty O’Keeffe has been named as the SKILLED Group National Indigenous Employee of the Year.Kirsty, 21, is employed by

national workforce services company SKILLED Group and has been placed in Council’s Engineering and Operations division as a trainee for the past 17 months. SKILLED have been

sourcing Council’s apprentices and trainees since 2008 and Council is the host employer.The annual SKILLED

Apprentice and Trainee of the Year Awards Program was introduced in December 2003 to recognise and highlight worker’s achievements.Kirsty is a local girl who

is proud of her Indigenous heritage which comes through the well-known Corowa family on her mother’s side. Her uncle is the former rugby league international Larry Corowa.Originally from

Chinderah, Kirsty attended Cudgen Public School and Kingscliff High School and now lives in Murwillumbah.

Kirsty was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in her early teens and has the extra challenge of managing her insulin regime in the workplace.Her role at Council

includes working at the Engineering and Operations front counter and on the Engineering switchboard handling a diverse range of inquiries from road repairs to water and sewer issues.“It’s been really good

working here with a great group of people and I thoroughly enjoy the opportunity I have been given,” Kirsty said.“I had previously

worked in retail and having this business and administration certificate will help me to develop skills to perhaps manage or own a business for myself in the future,” she said.SKILLED Regional

Manager Adrian Baker said Kirsty was up against 60 other applicants for the award, which will be presented at a gala awards night at Melbourne’s Crown Palladium on 31 March.“Congratulations to

Kirsty and also thanks to Tweed Shire Council, as this would be hard to win without a good working environment,” Mr Baker said.SKILLED Area Supervisor

Rachael Quinlan said Kirsty’s application had focused more on the productive team environment at Council and her mentors rather than her own achievements.“You can really see in her

application how happy she is at Council,” Ms Quinlan said.“It’s hard to imagine this

is the same shy young girl who came to us over a year ago.”Where Kirsty is heading

is the completion of her Certificate IV in Business, having successfully completed her Certificate III last year.Council’s Director

Engineering and Operations Patrick Knight also congratulated Kirsty, predicting she had a long career ahead of her in business administration.“You know where you’re

going and you’re going to get there fast,” Mr Knight said.

“Employee of the year” honors for Tweed woman


THE First Nations tent might be gone, but Indigenous artists will certainly still have a presence at the 22nd annual Bluesfest says its director.

The winding down of the First Nation’s Tent is a move that director Peter Noble

(pictured below) wishes wasn’t the case.“Events

NSW, which is the body who funded that tent, has changed their funding and they’ve asked

if we’d continue to present Pacific Rim, Indigenous, Kooris and Murris people, but disperse them through the festival,” Mr Noble said.He said he wanted to continue the

First Nations tent because he believed it was a demonstrated outcome from The Apology.“I strongly feel that although some

of the younger Australian Aboriginal

artists are calling it the apartheid tent, I thought it gave a lot of people a chance to be seen and heard at a successful festival,” he said.“It’s not about

marginalising Australian Aboriginal people or other people from the Pacific rim nations, it was about more getting the artists and also presenting those people on our other stages.”Mr Noble has been working around

Australian Aboriginal communities since the 70s, and in fact he was one of the founding members of the first Aboriginal Artist Agency set up in Redfern in the early 70s.Mr Noble says the funding is important

in bring Indigenous Australians to the Bluesfest stage from remote areas.“It’s not the guy that comes from

Sydney I’m worried about, it’s the guy who has to come from Elcho Island and the cost of getting here,” he said.“I have had assurance

from Events NSW, but as someone who has worked in events for the past 50 years it’s scaring the hell out of me.”“I do hope that they

Events NSW continue to put their support

into Aboriginal people so that we can continue to bring over bands like the Pigram’s who are coming with Alex Lloyd for Mad Bastards, and Saltwater Band from the Northern Territory, because that is where the costs are.“I personally am going to miss the First

Nation’s Tent.”Mr Noble says his commitment to

Indigenous artists will continue.In last year’s interview with Be Counted

Peter Noble tipped Dan Sultan for big things, and his prediction was on the money.This year Peter reckons it could be

Gurrumul’s turn again when he releases his second album later this year.“I’ll put my bet on for Gurrumul this

year, and I know you can say that’s an easy one, but the second record is often a difficult album for an artist,” he said.Among those lining up on the stage

with legendary folk singer Bob Dylan is Leah Flanagan, Microwave Jenny, Mad Bastards, Saltwater Band, and Gurrumul. Visit www.bluesfest.com for tickets.

First Nation’s Tent gone; Indigenous artists stay

Mad Bastards make beautiful music‘NOTHING Really Matters’ is the first single to be released from the much awaited soundtrack to the Australian film ‘Mad Bastards’.Penned by Alex Lloyd and Stephen

Pigram of the Pigram Brothers, this poignant tack features in the film of the same name which is set to hit Aussie screens 5 May.Mad Bastards has already created

a stir due to its sell-out ‘special premier’ at this year’s Sydney Film Festival and was well received at it screening at the Sundance Film Festival.Multi ARIA Award winning Alex

Lloyd and his extensive periods of time spent over years in the Kimberley writing songs with the Pigram Brother has resulted in a sparse, raw, yet rich album of sons that will certainly bring both artist into the spotlight.“It was working with Al and Stephen

Pigram that I realised how much less is more,” says Alex Lloyd.The soundtrack to Mad Bastards

will be released April 8, and they will be playing at the Bluesfest on April 25 and 26.

www.madbastards.com.au

Last year’s welcome to country

saLtWatEr Band


GP Practices that have joined the PBS Co-payment measure.If you are Aboriginal and/or Torres

Strait Islander, you may be eligible to receive cheaper medicines through your GP. The practices listed below

have reported they are actively participating in the PIP-Indigenous Health Incentive meaning you can access scripts for cheaper medicines through these practices. You must first have registered to

take part in the PBS co payment program. Please ask your Health Service for

further details on registering. Doctors at Coomera: 5500 0436• Coomera Village Medical

Centre: 5580 3877• Oxenford Medical Centre:

5573 1123• Hinterland Medical Centre:

5578 2199• Highlands Health Centre:

5574 9111• Doctors @ Nerang Mall: 5527

4800 Pappas Way Medical Centre: 5578 3007

• Hope Island Medical Centre: 5510 8199

• Merridown Family Surgery: 5525 1222

• Parkwood Family Practice: 5571 7233

• Bronberg Plaza Medical Centre: 5539 3977

• Labrador Park Medical Centre: 5537 3300

• Biggera Waters Family Practice: 5500 5200

• Harbour Town Medical Centre: 5563 7288

• Mermaid Beach Medical Centre: 5572 1668

• Harmony Health Medical Centre: 5535 6288

• Miami Family Medical Centre: 5525 1033

• Kalwun Health Service: 5520 6799

• Burleigh Family Medical Practice: 5576 5832

• Palm Beach Family Practice: 5576 0288

• Currumbin Fair Surgery: 5598 5288

• Robina Town Medical Centre @ Easy T: 5503 6333

• Robina Town Medical Centre: 5578 9000

• Bugalwena General Practice: 5513 1422

• Dr Follent’s Practice: 5536 2411

• Coolangatta Doctors Skin and Travel Clinic: 5599 1400

• Coolangatta Family Medical Centre : 5599 3010

• Davies Beach Medical Centre: 5536 5068

• Healthwise Medical Centre Centro Tweed: 5536 8811

• Kennedy Drive Medical Centre : 5599 4200

• Kingscliff Medical Practice: (02) 6674 3266

• Riverside General Practice: 5599 3993

• Tweed Banora Medical Centre: 5523 1711

If your normal Health Service is not listed, please ask them to join the program. If they do not wish to join the

program, you have the right to change medical services to a Practice that is participating. For further information

about the Indigenous Health Incentive and PBS Co-payment measures you can contact Clinton Schultz or Martin Wighton at GPGC on (07) 5507 7777.

Close the Health Gap with Clinton Schultz

Sponsored Column

Be counted has made a decision to change the publication date. the publishing date for the paper will now be on the first Monday after the 15th day of the month.

Edition 15 is due on 18 April, and Edition 16 is due on the 16 May.

Locklan wins two art prizes

FIFTEEN year-old Locklan Bygrave has won two prizes for his artwork for the ‘Keep the Roof over your family’s head’ project.The winning artwork,

‘Kangaroo and Paw Prints’ was reproduced into 500 A5 fridge magnets which also featured helpful tenancy laws to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders with their tenancies.Locklan received an

Art Encouragement Award of $100 and another $100 for his artwork. His sister Britney also

won $100 cash prize money for her work ‘Ant Hills’ however

Locklan accepted it on her behalf because she was in the middle of having her first baby delivered.Other winners

included Mark and Luther Cora who each received $100 for their entries.The magnets will also

be available to the Indigenous community through Krurungal and the TAASQ offices.‘Keep the ROOF over

your family’s head’ is a joint project between the Tenant Advice and Advocacy Service and Krurungal Welfare Corporation, funded by The Residential Tenancies Authority’s Public Grant Scheme.

Locklan with winning artwork


Bumehla festival

clockwise from top left: a young dancer; the indigenous all stars cheerleaders perform for the crowd at the Bumehla

Festival; scott Prince meets with some of his fans; these two boys are proud to be black and deadly; Johnathan thurston

walks the guard of honour; Brothablack, Jodie treweek and sean choolburra. - Photos by Wayne Quilliam, courtesy of the NRL.


Editorial: “I’m feeling inspired”THE biggest event last month for the Gold Coast was the Rugby League All Stars match between the NRL All Stars and the Indigenous All Stars.While the score was

disappointing I was inspired by our boys and their commitment on and off the field. I was inspired by Preston Campbell (who has just recently celebrated his 250th game), and his commitment to the dream of the All Stars concept especially after having to sit this round out.One of the great things to

come from this concept is the players not just those in the team by all Indigenous players commitment to their community.In the lead up to the main

event they attended my community commitments including the inaugural Bumehla Festival and Youth Summit.They were out there meeting

their fans and what I see as changing the world.Their actions and their

meet and greets does go towards changing the lives of our youth, and they did it not only with a smile but with genuineness, graciousness and gratitude. So to the Indigenous All Stars you are all stars. I also wanted to give a mention to the future of my kind, ‘the journalist’.It was a pleasure to feature

the story of Jake Duke who is a cadet journalist with the Gold Coast Titans. I know with the commitment

I have seen from the Titans to Indigenous youth he will achieve. It’s especially gratifying and inspiring for me to see young Indigenous journos come through and I know that they want to represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and keep on giving us a voice. I’m feeling inspired.

120 participate in Youth Summit

THE Indigenous All Stars spent time 120 Indigenous high school students who travelled from across the country to participate in the inaugural Learn. Earn. Legend! All Stars Youth Summit, bringing some much anticipated star power to the group of talented young leaders during their three-day conference.The students, aged 14 to 17, travelled

from as far as Elcho Island in the Northern Territory, Bairnsdale in Victoria and Derby in Western Australia to the Gold Coast for an experience of a lifetime.They took part in education,

employment and personal development workshops before joining the sell-out crowd at Skilled Park to watch the Harvey

Norman Rugby League All Stars game.The Youth Summit was delivered by the

Smarter Stronger Institute, with Executive Director Dr Chris Sarra taking students through a variety of sessions aimed at teaching personal leadership skills, important lessons about their culture and identity as well as how to reach their goals.

some of the youth summit participants enjoying the water with some of rugby Leagues all stars, and their

meet and greet with Preston campbell. (Pictures by Wayne Quilliam.)

CLOSING the gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health will receive a welcome boost from a new agreement between Queensland Health and the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC).The agreement, signed by Queensland

Health’s Director-General Michael Reid and QAIHC Chair Sheryl Lawton, establishes a formal partnership to support collaborative activities on a range of priority areas including Indigenous health leadership, preventative health, policy and health system reform, and program implementation.Mr Reid said the agreement formally

aligned the priorities of Queensland Health and QAIHC.“It reflects our determination to work

together to overcome the significant logistical, environmental and lifestyle factors that have perpetuated the health gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders,” he said.“The QAIHC plays a pivotal role in

representing community-controlled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services across Queensland. “Making a significant contribution to

improving the general health and life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders is a priority for Queensland Health.“We will continue to work closely with

QAIHC to achieve our mutual goal of

closing the burden of illness gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.”Ms Lawton said the agreement

demonstrated the mutual commitment by the Queensland Government and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health sector to collaborate to improve health outcomes for Queensland’s Indigenous people.“By embracing this collaborative

approach we are working towards delivering the best possible health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders,” she said.“The Aboriginal and Islander community

controlled health sector provides an innovative and effective primary health care service to our people and the sector continues to be a key element in bridging the health equity gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Queenslanders.“Our strength lies in creating Aboriginal

solutions to our own health challenges.” “The growing cooperation between

our sector and Queensland Health is demonstrated particularly well with the transition to community-control in Yarrabah and Cape York and this augurs well for the future of health in Queensland.”Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Queensland men have a life expectancy of 68.3 years, which is 10.4 years less than non-indigenous men; while

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queensland women have a life expectancy of 73.6 years, which is nine years less than their non-indigenous counterparts.There are more than 150,100 Aboriginal

and Torres Strait Islander people living in Queensland, or about 3.6 per cent of the state’s population. More than a quarter of them live in

remote and isolated communities.Their major health challenges include

cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases. To address this, Queensland Health

has committed $162.22 million over four years under the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG) Closing the Gap on Indigenous Health Outcomes National Partnership Agreement.“Queensland Health will work closely

with QAIHC to improve access to health services and advance the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders,” Mr Reid said.“Our commitment has been

demonstrated through the Queensland Government’s endorsement of the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (2003), the Queensland Premier’s signing of the Closing the Gap Statement of Intent in 2008, and release in 2010 of MakingTracks Towards Closing the Gap in Health Outcomes for Indigenous Queenslanders by 2033.”


New agreement to boost Indigenous health

signing event of a collaborative agreement between the Queensland aboriginal and islander health council and Queensland health.


THE trip to the west is one of the most demanding travel schedules we’ve had to face all year and it makes it all the more difficult to get a result there.

But a win against the Glory was crucial to our season and set us up nicely for the Finals Series.We’ve had a lot of matches recently

and probably haven’t been as consistent as we would have liked. At this time of the season you really

need momentum when you head into the finals.Our goal all season was to finish in the

top two.We have to aim to finish as high as

we possibly can and if the other teams around us falter we can be ready to pounce.At this time of year one of the

problems most clubs face is a glut of injuries.We’re no different and at the time of

writing we have around six first choice players struggling for fitness. During finals time the squad depth is

really tested and we all have to dig deep to do our best for the team.

Our final home fixture before the Finals Series was with Central Coast Mariners.This match served as a catch up to the

previous match abandoned due to poor playing conditions against second placed Central Coast Mariners. Sometimes playing so many

games in a short period of time can work in your favour, but when you have so many players with niggling injuries it naturally puts a lot of pressure on the squad.After the Mariners game we played

our last fixture away to newly crowned Premiership winners Brisbane Roar. Unfortunately we were knocked out

of the final series by Central Coast Mariners.Congratulations to Brisbane on

securing their first ever title.On a personal note, I’m still

struggling with injury myself and it’s very hard to watch the team from the sidelines as I desperately want to help the team as much as I can.

Busy schedule stretches the squad to the maxIn the back of the net with ... James Brown

James Brown (Photo courtesy: Scott

Powick, SMP Images’)

ingredients

• 2 pieces steak• 2 cloves garlic• 2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar• ¼ cup sweet red wine• 1 dessert spoon whole grain

mustard

directions

Grate garlic cloves in a bowl.Add balsamic vinegar and red wine.Grill steak in a pan to you liking.Remove steak from pan and place

mixture with steak juices in pan and heat on moderate heat.Add whole grain mustard into mix

and stir in quickly.

serving

Place steak in a plate and spoon mixture over.Serve with your favorite salad,

garlic bread or steamed veggies.

Serves: 2Difficulty: MediumTime: 20 mins

Cooking up

Each edition of Be Counted will showcase one our reader’s recipes. Send in your recipe and a photo of your culinary delight, with your full name and contact details to email [email protected]

Marinated Steak


Women’s contribution to rugby league celebrated

Indigenous All Stars

WOMEN took centre stage and rubbed shoulders the NRL All Stars in the lead-up to the Harvey Norman Rugby League All Stars match, where 200 volunteers and officials were rewarded at the Harvey Norman Women in League All Stars Dinner.Leah Purcell led the formal

proceedings as MC of the event which hosted a full room of volunteer women from Rugby League’s grassroots in South East Queensland, as well as the Women’s Indigenous All Stars and the opposing Women’s All Stars.NRL All Star Cameron Smith spoke

about the contribution women make to Rugby League.“Women play a huge role in this

game and tonight’s a great initiative that recognises some of the women up here on the Gold Coast and simply says thanks,” Smith said.Also on the panel was a former

Australian Jillaroo who upstaged her cousin, Laurie Daley. Katrina Fanning has 24 Tests to her

credit and holds the family record having played three more than the

Indigenous All Stars coach.Katrina revealed she would have

loved to play for the women’s Indigenous side and believes that the match will be very competitive – in fact a better contest than State of Origin.“Growing up in Junee with a large

Indigenous family, I remember playing many a game of Rugby League with my family and Laurie,” she said.“Every Grand Final day our family

would get together and us kids would play our own backyard league match, the winners did a lap of honour around the town, so Rugby League has some very fond memories for me.”The evening also celebrated the

contribution that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous women make to Rugby League in and around the Gold Coast, as well as highlighting Indigenous women and elders who are involved in local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community programs.

aBoVE: Women indigenous all stars pictured with their shirts..

BELoW: Lurine curtis, akuila Utae, Georgina ryan and dorothy dart (Photos by Wayne Quilliam)

Both teams pictured together. (All Star photos by Ursula

Skjonnemand.)

acPa sings the national anthem in the local aboriginal

language.

traditional dancers are joined by the indigenous all stars and Under 16s for pre-game warcry.

the crowd didn’t stop cheering for their

team.


action from RobinaUncLE GrahaM

diLLondan sultan performs

with his band.

Beau champion leaves the field

injured.

Jamal idris ploughs throughcrowd having a ball. PrEston

caMPBELL

team mates George rose and Joel

thompson clash heads.


SPORTIndigenous All Stars fight till the end

IT was a disappointing result for Indigenous All Stars fans who headed to Robina Stadium for the second annual Rugby League All Stars game.

The Indigenous All Stars were defeated 28-12 by the NRL All Stars.It was a slow start for the Indigenous

sides, but relief came near half-time when Ben Barber scored the first try, bringing the score to 22-6.The Indigenous side fought hard in

the second half, but it wasn’t without casualties.Indigenous team mates George Rose

and Joel Thompson clashed heads leaving Rose with a bloodied nose.Beau Champion came off the wrong

side of NRL All Stars forward Petero Civoniceva in the 52nd minute, leaving the field dazed and confused, and Jharal Yow Yeh was also sidelined after an accidental elbow from All Stars Michael Ennis.

Rabbitohs’ Nathan Merritt added to the try tally when he got the ball down for a in the left corner of the field.NRL All Star, Canberra fullback, Josh

Dugan took out the Preston Campbell Medal in front of a 25,843 crowd.The Women’s Indigenous All Stars vs

Women’s All Stars, and NSW Indigenous Under 16s vs Queensland Indigenous Under 16s were exciting curtain raises for the main event.Other highlights included Uncle Graham

Dillon conducting a welcome to country.There were also performances from

two-time ARIA award winner Dan Sultan, William Barton, Busby Marou, and internationally renowned Indigenous group the Bangarra Dance Theatre, were just some of the entertainers who wowed crowds.Bangarra Dance Theatre Creative

Director, Steven Page and descendant of the Nunukul people and the

Munaldjali clan of the Yugambeh tribe from southeast Queensland said: “The Rugby League All Stars brings the heritage and history of Indigenous culture together with modern sport and in a similar way the Bangarra Dance Theatre performance will have a very contemporary feel whilst drawing from the heritage of a number of clans across the country.”“Bangarra performs in theatres

around the country each year and performing for tens of thousands in a large arena

like Skilled Park will be an exciting challenge for us.“The game-day performance will

also be part of our upcoming European tour and the sneak preview we’re giving Rugby League fans at Skilled Park will definitely be something for both us and them to remember.”

Ben Barber celebrates after scoring a try and putting the indigenous all stars on the scoreboard. (Photo by Ursula Skjonnemand.)

Be Counted Edition 14

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