Gai-mariagal Festival 2023

A Celebration of the Oldest Living Culture on the Planet
26th May to 9th July 2023

We acknowledge the original custodians of the land, the Gai-mariagal clans of the Northern Sydney Region.

We pay our respects to the Elders past and present.

Festival Events 2023

Please return to see new events as they become available.

Gai-mariagal-festival

26th May 2023

Sorry Day

National Sorry Day is an Australia-wide observance held on 26 May each year. This day gives people the chance to come together and take steps towards healing for the Stolen Generations, their families and communities. Stolen Generations refers to children who were forcibly removed from their families and communities.

Reconciliation Australia

27th May to 3rd June 2023

National Reconciliation Week



Keep up the momentum for change: the theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023 is Be a Voice for Generations.

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023 encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work and socialise.

For the work of generations past, and the benefit of generations future, act today for a more just, equitable and reconciled country for all.

National Reconciliation Week – 27 May to 3 June – is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

#NRW2023 posters and resources will be released in February 2023.

Find out more about National Reconciliation Week #NRW2023 

National Reconciliation Week 2023
Naidoc Week


2nd July to 9th July 2023

For Our Elders, National NAIDOC Week 2023 


We’re proud to announce that the 2023 National NAIDOC Week theme is For Our Elders.

Across every generation, our Elders have played, and continue to play, an important role and hold a prominent place in our communities and families.

They are cultural knowledge holders, trailblazers, nurturers, advocates, teachers, survivors, leaders, hard workers and our loved ones.

Our loved ones who pick us up in our low moments and celebrate us in our high ones. Who cook us a feed to comfort us and pull us into line, when we need them too.

They guide our generations and pave the way for us to take the paths we can take today. Guidance, not only through generations of advocacy and activism, but in everyday life and how to place ourselves in the world.

We draw strength from their knowledge and experience, in everything from land management, cultural knowledge to justice and human rights. Across multiple sectors like health, education, the arts, politics and everything in between, they have set the many courses we follow.

The struggles of our Elders help to move us forward today. The equality we continue to fight for is found in their fight. Their tenacity and strength has carried the survival of our people.

It is their influence and through their learnings that we must ensure that when it comes to future decision making for our people, there is nothing about us - without us.

We pay our respects to the Elders we’ve lost and to those who continue fighting for us across all our Nations and we pay homage to them.

In 2023, how will you celebrate For Our Elders? 

Naidoc Week - For Our Elders 2023

Important Dates

National Sorry Day May 26
Sorry Day

26th May 2023

National Sorry Day is an Australia-wide observance held on 26 May each year.

National Reconciliation Week
National Reconciliation Week
27th May to 3rd June 2023

National Reconciliation Week offers people across Australia the opportunity to focus on reconciliation, to hear about the cultures and histories of Australia’s First Nations peoples, and to explore new and better ways of meeting challenges in our communities.

Gai-mariagal-festival
NAIDOC Week

2nd July to 9th July 2023

Keep up the momentum for change: the theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023 is Be a Voice for Generations.

The theme for National Reconciliation Week 2023 encourages all Australians to be a voice for reconciliation in tangible ways in our everyday lives – where we live, work and socialise.


Our People

 Dennis Foley – Gai-mariagal man Dennis Foley – Gai-mariagal man

His matrilineal connection is Gai-mariagal of Northern Sydney, and his patrilineal connection is to the Wiradjuri people of the Turon River region.

Dennis Foley – Festival Ambassador, Elder and Knowledge Holder
Susan Moylan-Coombs

Susan Moylan-Coombs is Woolwonga Gurindji from the Northern Territory. Having lived on the Northern Beaches for over fifty years, where she has raised her family, Susan calls Gai-mariagal lands her spirit country.

Committee Chair
Caroline Glass-Pattison

Caroline Glass-Pattison is a proud Wiradjuri, Dungutti woman, living on Gai-mariagal Country for over three decades.


Committee Chair

We acknowledge the original custodians of the land, the Gai-mariagal clans of the Northern Sydney Region.  We pay our respects to the Elders past and present.