Gunnedah Red Chief Local Aboriginal Land Council held a weeklong event in celebration of women and culture.

Organised by Galuma-li Dhawun Rangers, the week featured workshops like traditional weaving, painting, jewellery making, talk panels, classes on cooking food such as damper, and a day dedicated to Elders.

More than 200 people attended Women’s Week over the five days, from schools, local services, businesses, and community members.

For the RCLALC, providing opportunities for community to come together and connect is important to the organisation.

Women’s Week also had a strong focus on sharing culture and stories between Elders and younger generations.

“It’s moments like these ones, that bring community together,” CEO of RCLALC, Troy Ruttley, said.

“Where you’re not forced to connect, but the invitation of that interaction heightens, and therefore you’ve got these kids who wouldn’t normally speak to these elders in community having a moment of connection.”

The RCLALC hopes to continue to foster the connection between younger generations and Elders through programs such as Women’s Week.

Schools from Gunnedah and surrounding areas attended, with Boggabri Public School attending for the two days of workshops.

Students were able to choose two workshops to participate in over the day.

Students said they loved the events, with popular activities including the weaving and jewellery making.

“I’ve loved just being a part of the culture and learning all of these new things that they used to do,” Student from St Mary’s College, Audrey Barlow said.

“Yeah, we learnt how to weave, it was difficult at first, but then it turned actually pretty good at the end,” Imani Seach, fellow pupil, said.

On Thursday, March 5, the Elders enjoyed a ‘pamper day’.

Elders were treated to haircuts courtesy of the team from Estella Haus of Hair, which many of the ladies enjoyed.

RCLALC invited along service providers, such as Gunida Gunyah, and Tamworth Aboriginal Medical Service (TAMS).

Mr Ruttley said that community support for Women’s Week was overwhelming.

He said that even though services and businesses may not have been visible, their work in the background isn’t to be understated and is one of the reasons events such as these can run and work.

“I think the great thing about Gunnedah is that people are willing to participate in any capacity here,” Mr Ruttley said.

“There were a lot of services that jumped on board and helped us out, Woolworths provided fruit for the whole project, Winanga-li provided the barbeque on Thursday. We had Gunida Gunyah, and that here yesterday, like a service perspective.

“We had all these significant community organisations come together to ensure that we were looking at focusing on our elders and our women, but we also wanted to put that investment back into young people, because they are our future.

“And sometimes they can’t physically be present, but they are doing stuff behind the scenes, and sometimes it’s not promoted strong enough. I think that’s something that we all need to learn to do, to say if it wasn’t for these other entities, and the entities is the community as well, things like this just don’t happen.”

The week concluded on Friday with all artwork created across the five days being displayed.

Reflecting on the week, Mr Ruttley said it was good reminded of women’s strength.

“It was really positive,” Mr Ruttley said.

“If I think about a sentence to really sum [Women’s Week] up, it would be don’t underestimate the empowerment of women.”