First Nations

Survival Day is a day Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders come together to remember, mourn and acknowledge the ongoing survival of being the oldest living culture in the world.

Radio Adelaide’s Vida Sumner, Celestine Rowe and Chris Crebbin were in the community hosting a live special broadcast of the first Peramangk Watta Survival Day event on Friday 26th January 2024.

This inaugural gathering saw community from all corners of the country immerse themselves in First Nations Culture at a significant ancestral meeting ground at the Laratinga Wetlands in Mount Barker, SA.

Organiser of the Peramangk Watta Survival Day, Courtney Hunter-Hebberman Peramangk/Ngarrindjeri Woman, opens the event paying homage to her matriarchal lineage.

Courtney delivers a heartfelt message written by Elder Uncle Wally Richards and then shares a deeply-moving spoken word poem.

Hear from David Booth, a Warumunga/Yuggera man and son Kyle Sampson-Booth, a Peramangk descendant from the Imbala dance group who led the Welcome to Country and ancient purifying Smoking Ceremony.

We also got to have a yarn with David about the importance and significance of Survival Day.

Listen to the event introductions, opening, welcome and smoking ceremony.

Image description (L-R) Courtney Hunter-Hebberman and daughter Ruby Butler, Elder Uncle Wally Richards, Imbala Dance Group – Jarrel Sampson-Booth, David Booth, Lawrence Sampson-Booth, Kyle Sampson-Booth.

Image supplied by Elijah Sumner