NAIDOC Week exhibition unveiled

GUNNEDAH Shire has celebrated the official opening of its NAIDOC Week art exhibition, now on display at the Bicentennial Creative Arts Gallery at the Cultural Precinct.

This year’s display boasts many distinctive pieces including an Aboriginal flag formed from coloured buttons, submitted by the Healthwise Ageing and Wellbeing group, and an impressive art installation by Gunnedah High School students in Years 7 and 8, and the Dhiiyaan unit, which features the NAIDOC Week themes over the past 50 years.

The Deadly Dancers performing at the exhibition opening.

GoCo’s Elders group also got involved, creating colourful yarn sticks, which were quite a sight hanging from the ceiling of the gallery. There are also clap sticks with hand-burned designs, decorated boomerangs, woven jewellery and baskets, paintings, and decorative stones.

Martine Moran and Louise Hill with echidnas made by the K Ant class at Gunnedah South Public School, inspired by The Echidna and the Shade Tree story.

Cultural Precinct team leader Danny Hankinson below said council is proud to host the 2026 NAIDOC Week Art Exhibition.

“This year’s NAIDOC Week theme – ‘50 Years of Deadly’ – is a celebration of culture, of pride, of stories and song lines, of language, of unity, and of resilience,” he said.

Visual Art teacher Louise Hill with Gunnedah High School’s installation celebrating 50 years of NAIDOC Week.

“Our community NAIDOC Week art exhibitions have been held for more than 20 years to give First Nations peoples an opportunity to showcase their culture through a wide variety of mediums, including weaving, painting, woodworking, ceramics and metalwork, to name a few.

Lyn Ison, Carol Smit and Sue Sutherland were part of the GoCo Community Care Gunnedah Elders Group who created colourful yarn sticks for the 2026 NAIDOC Week Art Exhibition.

“The exhibition was curated by Bundjalung/Gomeroi woman Hollie Crawford who also ran a workshop to assist First Nations women to prepare works for the exhibition.

“The workshop and curation were facilitated by Arts North West and funded by the Australian government’s Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support Program.

Sue Sutherland and Lyn Ison from the Healthwise Ageing and Wellbeing group, which used buttons to form the Aboriginal flag.

“Time, talent and a love of Country are invested in the culturally rich and tactile pieces of intergenerational art on display, and we thank our community for sharing their stories and their voices with us.”

The exhibition will continue until Friday, August 7.