![]() This planted the roots for Message Sticks, a program in 2013 that brought together dance, music and public discussions on First Nations issues. Works featured during the festival include Woollarawarre Bennelong of the Wangal, the play Wulamanayuwi & the Seven Papanui by Jason De Santis, the Bennelong Memorial Address by Stan Grant, the historic dance showcase Dancestry, the Yolngu Weavers, and Ngambala Niji. ![]() In 2012 Rhoda took the reins of the festival in her new role as Head of Aboriginal Programming, and introduced a more diverse range of Aboriginal artist presentations that reflected the success of the 1997 Festival of the Dreaming program. There were also international guests and productions, among them: Nga Pou Wahine by Maori artists Briar Grace Smith and Rachel Hose More Feathers than Beads by Rappahannock nation artist Murielle Borst and works by Cree/Saulteaux performance maker Margot Kane. In the archives the program included a ‘Wimins’ Business Solo Series with productions of The 7 Stages of Grieving by Wesley Enoch and Deborah Mailman, Box the Pony by Leah Purcell, Ningali by Ningali Jose Lawford, and White Baptist Abba Fan with Deb Cheetham. She encouraged Rhoda to become firmly entrenched in First Nations programming at the House. Some years later in the late 80s and early 90s, when Rhoda was involved with the Aboriginal National Theatre Trust (ANTT) producing Aboriginal works with leading creatives, she came in contact with Sue Nattrass, then serving as a Trustee of the Sydney Opera House.Īccording to Roberts, Nattrass was a big supporter of this type of programming. ![]() They would hold those concerts every year.”Īs documented in the Opera House archives, Aboriginal Week took place in July 1978 and The Country Outcasts, Urban Island Dancers, and The Waratahs performed. “It was mainly country and western music with Wilma Reading, Jimmy Little and Candy Williams-the guys that were around in the 70s and 80s. “I remember going to NAIDOC Week, or ‘Aboriginal Week’ as it was called then,” she said. ![]() In recalling her first memory of attending an event at the House, Roberts couldn’t determine an exact date. ![]()
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