Yugambeh Descendants Unite for Corroboree

JENNY Graham lived a very different life from most.

Growing up as an Aboriginal woman in the early 1900s had its complications, but none more challenging than choosing between her children and her culture.

Mrs Graham was forced to hide her culture from her children to avoid police taking them from her.

Rory O’Connor, a direct descendant of Mrs Graham, said that a lot of the family’s history and traditions were lost because of events like this.

”She knew all of the songs and languages of the Yugambeh people but could not pass it down to her children,” he said.

”If her kids were out and started doing one of the traditional dances or singing an Aboriginal song, the police would have taken them from her.

”It’s horrible to lose your culture, but if you want to keep your children, what can you do?”

Thousands of years of tradition were wiped out when Aboriginal Yugambeh families were forced to leave their land to make room for an influx of Europeans.

Direct descendants of those who managed to stay and survive, banded together at The Southport School for the 4th Annual Yugambeh Corroboree Concert yesterday.

Mr O’Connor set up the corroboree to encourage the revival of the Yugambeh language and culture.

”I think it is very important to keep your culture going strong,” he said.

”We almost lost the Yugambeh language, but now we are able to pass it on to our children.”

The corroboree hosted a series of Aboriginal workshops involving traditional dances, languages and music.

The event was on the 20th anniversary of the High Court of Australia Mabo decision, which recognised native titles in Australia for the first time.

Yugambeh community elder, Patricia Leavi, said the Mabo decision helped her community re-discover their family roots.

”When we made claims to native land titles, we had to dig up our family history for proof,” she said.
”It helped us re-establish who we are and where we came from.

”We found out a lot from having to look into our family trees.

”The Mabo Decision did more than provide us land, it helped us promote who we are and where we came from.”

Members of the Jaran Dance Company conducted dance and didgeridoo workshops yesterday.

Jaran Dance Company founder Graham Blanco said that people loved learning about the culture.

”People really seem to respond to it and we try to make our performances interactive,” he said.

”We pick a person from the audience and he becomes the Bala, or main warrior, and leads us to the area where we perform.”

Mr Blanco, his two children and other extended members of his family are all part of the company.

After the workshops, the Jaran Dance Company and a choir from A.B Paterson College performed.

The choir’s music teacher, Candace Kruger, said that the students were off to America to compete in the World Choir Games early next month.