IN PICTURES: Wagyl Kaip Southern Noongar Aboriginal Corporation stages family fun day for NAIDOC celebrations

A lively stream of people joined the Wagyl Kaip Southern Noongar Aboriginal Corporation for its NAIDOC celebrations on September 12. The organisation put on a family fun day at the Livestock Pavillion on Cockburn Road which included storytelling, dancing, face painting and weaving. While the emphasis was firmly on fun, there were also educational opportunities with a bush medicine workshop and the sharing of cultural knowledge by Noongar elders. The corporation supports the southern Noongar people by managing the Noongar Land Estate, protecting cultural heritage and providing benefits from the South West Native Title Settlement. This includes managing cultural sites like national parks and running a rangers program for land and sea management in an area which covers more than 52,000sqkm and includes Albany, Mt Barker and Katanning. It also runs community education and health programs, and operates a charitable trust which provides support to eligible members. On Friday, the community was out in force enjoying a performance by the Minang Traditional Dance Group and storytelling in the Wirlomin Noongar language — a dialect spoken in WA’s South West. There was also flower arranging with Vanessa Bray, family portraits by photographer Jenny Feast, and a sausage sizzle.