Organised by Forster-Tuncurry Hawks’ club secretary Warren Blissett, it’s a day for young league hopefuls to fine tune their skills. It will take place at Cabarita Reserve on Tuesday July 8 from 10am and is free of charge.

The Kids to Kangaroo Coaching Clinic is just one of the events in what’s shaping up as a fun-filled line up for the whole community – no matter what your ethnic background.

NAIDOC celebrations are held every year at this time in communities across the nation to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’.

In Forster celebrations will kick off on July 5 when our very own ‘adopted whale’ will be officially named Worimi. The name was the result of a student competition with St Joseph’s Bulahdelah picking the winning title.

It was chosen as a tribute to local Aboriginal people whose ancestors saw whales swim up and down the coast long before anyone else. The naming ceremony will be held at Forster’s Main Beach and will include the unveiling of a mural by artists Donna Rankin and Mandy Davis.

Other events on the NAIDOC Week calendar include a screening of some short films from the Forster Film Festival at Great Lakes Library on July 7 at 7pm, and a children’s disco at the Forster Local Aboriginal Land Council on July 9 from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.

Tanya Simon is a member of the local NAIDOC interagency group organising the celebrations, and she would like to encourage everybody from the wider community to come along to the Aboriginal Awareness Day on Friday July 11.

As well as learning more about Aboriginal culture you might also get the chance to meet one of the pilgrims from Miami who will be in the Great Lakes in the lead up to Catholic World Youth Day.

To take part simply turn up at the Tobwabba Aboriginal Medical Service near Cabarita Reserve at 9.30am to hear from Great Lakes mayor John Chadban and to witness a traditional smoking ceremony.

Steve Brereteton will then take participants on a guided walk of sacred sites around the Wallis Lake foreshore and then across to Pebbly Beach.

NAIDOC Week celebrations will then culminate with the family fun day in Tuncurry’s John Wright Park on Saturday July 12 from 10am. For more information on all of these events be watching the Great Lakes Advocate next week.

Whale Naming Day: page 7