Warruwi joins in celebration

The Warruwi community family fun day featured a number of activities including an afternoon soccer competition run by staff from Warruwi School and West Arnhem Regional Council’s Sport and Recreation team. The competition was very popular amongst the children.

A joint effort between local organisations and community members led to the success of the Warruwi family fun day on Saturday, June 17.
Those who attended enjoyed a great day out with lots of laughter, sports, face painting, dancing and music, as well as games for the kids to enjoy, a spear throwing competition, live bands and a late night disco to wrap up a full day and night of fun.
The event started in the afternoon and ran well into the evening and was only possible through the joint efforts of West Arnhem Regional Council, Yagbani Aboriginal Corporation, Mardbalk Arts & Crafts and Warruwi Community School.
West Arnhem Regional Council Sport and Recreation Coordinator Seide Ramadani said the day was a great success and there are hopes to grow the event in the future.
“There was so much variety for the families to enjoy and these events really highlight the local pride, talent and unity that make Warruwi such a great place. The success of these events lies very much on the community and organisations working together, and in Warruwi you don’t have to ask anyone twice. The energy and willingness to make it happen was inspiring. Everyone put so much effort in preparations to bring creativity, variety and entertainment,” Seide said.
“We would especially like to thank the event coordinators Philamena and Emma, the teachers, the team at Yagbani, the Council, the Women’s Centre, NT police, Night Patrol and Mardbalk, just to name a few.”
The crew at Yagbani Aboriginal Corporation provided all the fresh fish for the day which was caught by the local community members and shared with everyone. The fish and sweet potatoes were cooked up under the coals of an open fire and provided a beautiful ending to the afternoon celebrations before the disco kicked in.
The spear throwing competition also proved popular, with competitors using spears made by the artists at Mardbalk Arts & Craft to try and hit the bullseye.
The winners, Jeffrey and Frank were each awarded a prize from Yagbani for their efforts.
Soon after the sun went down, the young ones enjoyed a free late night disco at the recreation hall with DJ Philamena playing hit after hit which got everyone on the dance floor.
Halfway through the night, the community was surprised with a special dance performance by the kids, showcasing what they had learned in the previous week of workshops with Artback NT through the NTG Sports Voucher programs facilitated together with Council’s Sport and Recreation.
No event is complete without a few sausages on the barbecue and Gunbalanya meats generously came to the party, providing free sausages for the day, delivered from Gunbalanya on a charter by Council.
The event was a huge success and provided a bit of a taster to what is hoped to be a bigger and better festival in future.

The spear throwing competition attracted participants young and old.