Gai-mariagal Festival
A Celebration of the Oldest Living Culture on the Planet.
The Gai-mariagal Festival was founded in 2001 and aims to raise awareness of First Nations People living in the Northern Sydney region.
The Festival starts on Sorry Day, 26 May and goes through to the end of NAIDOC Week the second week in July each year. The Festival committee includes local government, other agencies, businesses and numerous community groups with events to include workshops, art exhibitions, performances, films, talks and more.
This year's festival theme is 'Legacies for future generations' and the 2025 themes for Reconciliation Week 'Bridging now to next' and NAIDOC Week, 'The next generation: Strength, vision and legacy'.
Ku-ring-gai Council is a proud partner of the Festival in its 25th year.
Gai-mariagal Festival events in Ku-ring-gai
Ku-ring-gai Council is committed to strengthening these relationships in several ways. Council recently endorsed the preparation of a draft Ku-ring-gai Reconciliation Plan in collaboration with Reconciliation Australia. Once drafted the plan will seek to encourage organisations to improve opportunities for the recruitment of indigenous staff and procurement of indigenous services. We are also committed educating our staff and community to improve cultural awareness. This means engaging the community in different ways to explore indigenous culture, which is why the Gai-mariagal Festival is so important.