Survival Day in Bermagui: Sadness, joy and celebration rolled into one

Bermagui’s Survival Day gets bigger each year, with crowds numbering in the hundreds and drawing big-name performers.

This year the legendary Koori King of Country Roger Knox and his Euraba Band were the star attractions, along with Indigenous family band Castlereagh Connection who come from Coonamble, some 780 kilometres from Bermagui.

Other highlights were the three dance groups who performed together as part of the opening, and the Milumba Trio who travelled from Nowra to sing their original songs and some in the Dhurga language.

Rodney Kelly and his wife Belinda have been organising the event since 2016. Just 50 people attended that one and it has grown from there.

“All the local businesses in Bermagui give prizes for the raffle, and businesses in Bega and other places are sponsors to help this day happen,” Mr Kelly said.

“It is pretty much a community event with donations from businesses and people to make it happen.”

He said growing numbers of people were open to what Survival Day was about.

“When people come to Survival Day they learn about history and they can do workshops, and there is dancing and entertainment,” he said. “They get to learn, hanging around with us, and connecting.”

“I just want people to stop and think, reflect on the past, do some research on how our people have been treated, and why we have these Survival Days and Invasion Days,” Mr Kelly said. “We just want to get our story across and for people to understand.”

In his opening address at Dickinson Oval on 26 January, Mr Kelly said what some people called Australia Day marked Invasion Day for his people, colonisation, genocide, and dispossession of their rights and culture.

“They called Australia Terra Nullius but they knew this country was made up of many different tribes and boundaries and hundreds of languages to go with that,” Mr Kelly said.

“From that day we were treated pretty bad, so this day is about trying to teach the rest of Australia about the hardships and struggles we have been through, our land being taken from us and being herded onto reserves.”

In a mark of solidarity, people interviewed identified themselves as Yuin rather than their subgroups such as Djiringanj and Walbunja.

Lehane Mason from Narooma said Survival Day “is a day of sadness and joy and celebration all rolled into one”.

Harley Ladmore, also from Narooma, said the day was about his ancestors, surviving, culture, “and I am proud to be still here”.

For Jason Thomas from Bega, it was an opportunity for his mob and family from up and down the coast to get together.

Uncle Warren Foster from Wallaga Lake said the day was about survival, culture, and unity.

“It is good to see a good crowd here. It means a lot for the survival of culture,” Uncle Warren said. “We are here and we are going to continue.”

Traditional owner Gwenda Stewart from Malua Bay said the day was “all about survival and we are still here”. Her father was a member of the Stolen Generation.

Alec Harrison, also from Malua Bay, said they were talking among themselves about the old days when they speared mullet, ran along the riverbanks, sat up catching eels and skinning them, and sharing the food with their elders.

“The elders taught us to go fishing and hunting because they were getting too old. Our parents taught us about our culture and who we are,” Mr Harrison said.

“No matter where we go, there is always mob.”

For him the day is about his people surviving to pass on their culture to future generations. He would like to see Survival Day in Bermagui every year.

Mr Kelly said it was a challenge putting it on every year.

“Every year I say I am not going to do it, but I see all the people coming along and that keeps me going.”