Each July, Australia celebrates NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week. NAIDOC can be traced back to the 1920s after Aboriginal groups wanted to increase awareness in the wider community of the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. With a different theme each year, this year was titled For Our Elders, recognising the importance of Elders in family, work and everyday life. 

As TAG currently works through their Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to acknowledge Elders from past, present and future, they saw a great opportunity to celebrate NAIDOC Week with their clients. TAG partnered with EVT Hotels and Village Roadshow Pictures to hold a special screening of The New Boy, a film for which they managed travel logistics on, that wrapped production last December.

Set in Burra, which is in the Ngadjuri Lands in South Australia, The New Boy highlights the story of a nine-year-old Aboriginal boy who mysteriously arrives at an orphanage in the dead of night. The orphanage is run by a renegade Nun, beautifully played by Cate Blanchett. The film is directed by award-winning Australian Indigenous filmmaker, Warwick Thornton, who drew on his own upbringing in a Christian Boarding School – delivering a powerful film that has introduced audiences to a new standout child actor, Aswan Reid.

EVT Hotels provided one of their private screening rooms for the event, welcoming numerous TAG clients. Also in attendance was Aunty Donna Ingram, an Elder born and raised on Gadigal land, in Redfern where both the cinema and TAG Sydney office are located. Aunty Donna did a Welcome to Country, which is delivered by Traditional Owners or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with permission to do such from Traditional Owners. The Welcome to Country pays respect to the country while simultaneously welcoming visitors.

Aunty Donna’s Aboriginal family connections are the Wiradjuri of Central West New South Wales. She is a mother to four adult children and grandmother to five. As a proud cultural representative for the local Aboriginal community in Sydney, Aunty Donna has worked in Aboriginal affairs, government and community organisations in Sydney for the past 35 years, mostly in education. She was particularly excited to stay after the Welcome to Country and watch the film for its early screening.

The event was such a success that the screening quickly filled up. There are very few private screening rooms in Sydney – two offered by EVT Hotels, one at Rydges (seating 51 people) and a slightly larger room at QT Hotel. The response from clients in attendance was phenomenal. TAG takes pride in how they contribute to telling stories behind the scenes, especially when those stories finally come to life – being able to share the moment with their clients was icing on the cake.

To watch The New Boy trailer, and get a taste of this inspirational story, click here.

For more information on EVT Hotels’ private screening rooms contact TAG.