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Australia Day Morning Smoking Ceremony

  • 26 January 2021

As the sun rose on Australia Day 2021, the Scarborough Beach Amphitheatre was a buzz with aboriginal cultural performances, a smoking ceremony, singing, dancing and a speaker panel to entertain and engage with local beach goers as they headed down to the water for an early morning swim.

An initiative of Auspire – Australia Day Council WA and delivered in partnership with the Wadjak Northside Aboriginal Community Group, the event provided a culturally sensitive opportunity to reflect our nation’s true history, which began tens of thousands of years ago with our First Australians.

“Australia Day is commonly a celebration of our modern history and the waves of immigration that have shaped us into one of the world’s great multicultural success stories,” said Morgen Lewis CEO of Auspire – Australia Day Council WA. “But this year, we wanted to do something that highlights our unique place in the world by celebrating our Aboriginal peoples, the oldest continuing culture on earth.”

Auspire is a member of the National Australia Day Council Network, and over the last two years the Network developed a new strategy to encourage a more inclusive approach to the day. The National campaign for Australia Day is called We’re all part of the Story and was developed as part of the new strategy. The theme that runs through the campaign is Reflect, Respect Celebrate and is about encouraging people to listen to each other.

The event was attended by approximately 500 beach goers who came and went throughout the morning. It was made possible by the Commonwealth Government’s CovidSafe Australia Day event grants program, which supported more than 100 events across WA on Australia Day.

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