Beacho2700 will perform at the Wagga Wagga NAIDOC Ball on 11 July. Photo: Jarryd Rowley.
Mawang Gaway, a local group of respected Wiradjuri Elders, is planning this year’s NAIDOC Ball in Wagga Wagga and is seeing sponsors.
The ball will be held at Rules Club Wagga Wagga on 11 July. Everyone is welcome to what is being billed as “a full night of entertainment, food and connection”. NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee.
Beacho2700, the 18-year-old Wiradjuri rapper who opened for the Barkaa concert in April, will perform at the ball.
“We’ve got platinum, gold, silver, bronze and community sponsorship, but we’re also looking for First Nations friends and allies to support in-kind sponsorship opportunities,” Regional Development Australia (RDA) Riverina board member Melanie Reeves said.
“We’ve had some really great organisations come up with in-kind sponsorship or community sponsorship.
“So it’s just a matter of continuing to reach out to our community and telling them that we want as many people as possible to attend the event.”
NAIDOC Week is an annual event that celebrates and recognises the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It’s held on the first week of July (6 to 13) across Australia, with 2025 marking the 50th year of the event.
This year’s theme, “The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy”, seeks to celebrate both past and future achievements, empowered by the “strength of our young leaders, the vision of our communities, and the legacy of our ancestors”.
Sponsorship levels available are:
- Platinum ($10,000+)
- Gold ($5000 – $9999)
- Silver ($2500 – $4999)
- Bronze ($1000 – $2499)
- Community ($500 – $999)
- In-kind (non-monetary contributions).
Committee secretary and Wagga-based animator Bernard Higgins said the ball “lets all the community and allies get together, have a bit of a celebration, with nice new entertainment, music and dancing”.
“We’ll do formal sort of stuff until 8:39 pm and then the DJ will come out and people will be dancing and partying until about midnight,” he said.
“We’re handing out some awards as well.”
Awards in the following categories will be presented at the ball:
- Sportsperson
- Youth
- Innovation
- Education
- Caring for Country and Culture
- Creative Talent.
Mr Higgins said the awards recognised and honoured the achievements of “anyone in the community who are Aboriginal” and “who meet the criteria”.
“So the youth will go to someone who’s done some really good stuff as a young person,” he said.
“Education goes to someone who’s done something in the education sphere, the creative goes to a creative person and stuff like that.
“We put out a call out for nominations earlier this year, and people nominated some people, and then we had a meeting, and the panel went through and selected all the [finalists].”
The theme for the ball is “Murrumbidgee River”.
“So that’s what we’ve been working on with the artwork and the decorations,” Mr Higgins said.
“The dress code would just be like normal; dress up nice.
“But if people just turn up nice and dress warm, that’s it.”
The 2025 Wagga Wagga NAIDOC Ball will be held at the Rules Club from 6 pm on Friday, 11 July. Visit Mawang Gaway’s Facebook page for more information, and get tickets here. There are 100 free tickets for Elders and their guests to acknowledge their cultural leadership.
