Every part of Australia is,
always was and always will be,
Aboriginal land.

As a community gathering-place, a festival of arts, cultural exchange and celebration and as a site for the sharing of ideas and stories, Ten Days on the Island pays respect to the Palawa/Tasmanian Aborigines – The original owners and cultural custodians - of all the lands and waters across Lutruwita/Tasmania upon which our Festival takes place.

With thanks to the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre for place names and other words in palawa kani, the language of Tasmanian Aborigines.

A huge thank you to the amazing North West

From the first, spine-tingling call of ‘mapali!’ at dawn on Devonport beach, to the final raucous chorus of ‘in the future’ ending Lucky Oceans and Heath Cullen’s inspired set in a packed shed on Table Cape, this was a beautiful weekend in the North West of Tasmania.

mapali – Dawn Gathering was a particular highlight and a significant moment for the Festival as a celebration of community, of Country and culture. Leading the ceremony, Dave mangenner Gough’s electrifying and powerful narration brought everyone together and guided the audience through the event. Few knew that by the morning of the event Dave had hardly slept. He lived and breathed mapali – Dawn Gathering for weeks, working with local schoolkids to create the dogwood huts and shells that featured in the ceremony, collecting the kelp, connecting with families, young people and Elders of the palawa pakana community and overseeing every aspect of the event experienced by hundreds of locals on Friday. Ten Days on the Island thanks Dave mangenner Gough for his cultural leadership of this event and for bringing mapali – Dawn Gathering to life.

The success of Ten Days on the Island was a whole-of-community effort. Throughout the weekend the Ten Days on the Island team were total champions, working alongside literally hundreds of locals to make our festival run smoothly and successfully. We thank all our brilliant visiting artists, technicians and support teams for bringing their magic to our beautiful part of the planet; and we send a special big shout out to those wonderful people who participated in or volunteered for mapali – Dawn Gathering, Shorewell Presents, Here She Is, in Pursuit of Venus [infected], Women of the Island, Bushland and the Pulp Lounge and the amazing young women involved in Project O who assisted and performed in Big hART’s inspired Acoustic Life of Sheds.

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to the success of the first weekend of our Festival here in the North West; for helping create a vivid illustration of how life-affirming art experiences can enrich our societies and remind us of the things that connect us and bind us together – our shared humanity.

We couldn’t have asked for more idyllic weather, a more enthusiastic turnout or a better response for every single event in our program. We now move on to the North East – join us!

Lindy

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