Today’s podcast episode is all about the Wan’di Gather Together event hosted by the Taribelang Cultural Aboriginal Corporation and the Windmill Café Bargara.
Wan’di means ‘to gather together’ and it will be an evening of delicious indigenous inspired food, stories, and cultural celebration tomorrow night.
We hear from Taribelang Cultural Aboriginal Corporation Traditional Owner Byron Kiya Kayla Broome and Windmill Café owner Joey Caruana about what’s planned for the event.
You can also listen on Google, Apple, Spotify, TuneIn or your favourite podcast app.
Podcast transcript
Gennavieve Lyons 00:05
Hello and welcome to the Bundaberg Now podcast brought to you by Bundaberg Regional Council. I’m your host Genevieve Lyons and on today’s episode we learn about an upcoming event hosted by the Taribelang Cultural Aboriginal Corporation. The event is called Wan’di, which means to ‘gather together’ and the community is invited to join traditional custodians for a night of delicious indigenous inspired food, stories and celebration at the Windmill Cafe this Friday. Taribelang Cultural Aboriginal Corporation Traditional Owner Byron Kiya Kayla Broome spoke with Adele More about the upcoming event.
Adele More 00:42
Can you tell me about Wan’di and how it came about?
Byron Broome 00:45
Wan’di is, in the Taribelang language elders tell us that Wan’di is a word we use together. But when we used together we used to gather together as a group. And so in saying that this is what we had, very loud ceremonies, and they sing in Wan’di. So Bundaberg and we would gather together. And I believe it’s very fitting for today that naming because they’re near at the Windmill with Joey, I believe it’s going to be a very exciting do, to put up for the community and for younger people to actually see what’s our cultural about. And for me, it’s, it’s a bit personal because it’s to keep our culture alive. And to keep our history and our Dreamtime stories coming through, but especially for the locals that that actually haven’t heard the traditional stories. And so and this will be a good chance for them to come down. See some of the beautiful food Joey’s is going to put up, and some of the rich culture and history that we’re going to be telling you.
Adele More 01:48
Great, so there’s going to be an opening and a closing dance?
Byron Broome 01:52
Yes, my daughter Nikki Broome Tiger, she’ll be performing and she does a beautiful land blessing dance. And I think it will be fitting for the name Wan’di. And this is where the Windmill Wan’di, it’d be a good one to catch on for Bargara and especially the residents that are here to come in. And I believe like the beautiful food what Joey is was talking about I believe he is putting on a bit of a spread. So with some fish, and can’t wait for that. Sounds exciting. So as for me, my name is Byron Broome. And what I do here is, I’m the co founder of TCAC, which is the Taribelang Cultural Aboriginal Corporation . And what we do is this is wonderful on the level for everybody on the community here. The level is that everyone coming together and respecting each other. And I believe it’s true that respecting each other this is where true culture and history will come out to with the wider community and to spread Dreamtime stories. And the gathering, like I said, the gathering together is to break some of these barriers that we have in our community, and to see that we can work together and make a better future for our kids.
Adele More 03:01
So is that the aim of the TCAC to sort of break some of those boundaries?
Byron Broome 03:05
Yes, it is. Like I said, I’m the Taribelang Cultural Aboriginal Corporation, we’ve been around a few years now. We step into schools and we’ve done certain ceremonies and I’m being around a while now, this is the another outlet for us. A brand new outlet for the community come and see some more. And I believe in the past we have broken barriers. So this is another barrier. We’ll be breaking down as we come through.
Adele More 03:34
Perfect, thank you so much having a chat.
Byron Broome 03:37
Thank you.
Gennavieve Lyons 03:38
Joey is the owner of the Windmill Cafe and he’s putting on quite a spread for the night. Here he is with more.
Adele More 03:44
So we’ve got Joey here from the Windmill Cafe in Bargara who’s doing the food for the Wan’di coming up on May the 14th. Could you give us a little bit of a rundown on the event?
Joey Caruana 03:55
So I’ll give you some other thoughts in the time that we’ve put together. So now this idea of a Wan’di which is the you know, a traditional name for what I believe is like a gathering coming together for our indigenous community, our local community that is. So people from right here right from Bundaberg, right from Bargara who traditionally own this land. And who lived in this land for thousands of years. So we’ve you know, we’ll develop that coming together to spend some time to learn more about local culture, particularly have an experience for our local community and our children to find how we understand local culture. And I feel you know, I thought there might be a bit of a gap in the market and one of the things I learned when I travelled a lot overseas and even in Australia most of time I learned about indigenous cultures was when I was away. So that made my thinking maybe I need to try and learn a bit more about indigenous cultures where I live and the amazing culture that we live in, and I’m lucky enough to call my home and my kids home. So put some feelers out. So how are we getting an event where we can learn some culture and using the uniqueness and the quirkiness of the Windmill. And keep that quirkiness going and I’m sure in the past, I’ve had many people ask, you know, Windmill on a beach in a regional town, having a Wan’di, a gathering of indigenous people remember that clearly describes what the community really feels like. That’s what it’s about, is that we’re open for all it’s a community, how quirky we are or not so quirky, and where we come from? It really is a gathering place. Then I met Nikki and Byron. And so Nikki and Byron have been quite inspirational for me when I met them it was almost like a lightbulb moment I was looking for somebody like Nikki and Byron. And I think Nikki and Byron were maybe looking for something like me. And we’ve become pretty good mates first. Pretty close actually really fast. So they have amazing understanding of their culture. And I’m excited, it’s unique. It’s really developed over a long time with you know, with hurdles or not right way to word to describe it. But we’ve had things that we had to overcome to get to this point. We’re really close to, we had some significant thoughts where the Windmill Cafe Bargara last year one, Queensland Tourism, gold medal for Best Restaurant and catering which I was amazed by. It was truly successful. And coming from a little regional community, little town, a little cafe to take on the big boys around the state that we got mark on middle. But one of the things we learned is Queensland Tourism has, you know, emphasise on this year to being the year of indigenous tourism. So one of our natural steps is to engage with indigenous tourism. And a unique part of that is having something on the coast and I think it is unique, you know, I haven’t heard many things happen, you know, region where we offer amazing indigenous inspired food. And it’s been inspired by Byron and Nikki in their family really great parents and the grannies that they’ve passed on to me and we’ve worked in and my passion is food, but passion is hospitality and making people meet each other.
Adele More 07:19
So it sounds like it’s going to be an amazing event, particularly people will be excited about the food. Could you tell me a bit more about what might be on the menu.
Joey Caruana 07:27
Again, we worked with a couple of local indigenous suppliers. One of the things I’m most excited about is our local mackerel. So Byron once told me that his ancestors would catch mackerel from about 1k away off the coast right here. And that was one of their staple diets and when they explained to me how they cooked it and they cooked it you know bark leaves and banana leaves and they baked it and they put it all together. So we have amazing fishing people out here the Bundaberg smokehouse, Luke and Lincoln who catch mackerel and have caught mackerel ready for that day. And they’re going to bring to the lease the 500 metres away from their quarter farm. We’re going to have it with some lemon Myrtle, we’re going to bake in a banana leaves and that’s part of our main dish that I can almost smell and taste that already you know, hopefully can feel that in why my voice. So we’re moving on to a desert. And one of the things I’ve always tried to play with it around a little dish, we probably will have some, is a panna cotta. So panna cotta is a real, you know, coconut, we used a coconut base here to keep it vegetarian and vegan, which we’re setting with bush tomatoes, bush fruits, and bush herbs, which again, we’re getting close from local suppliers, and just having this little edginess. You know, I didn’t want to play around the main dish too much because the true main event the you know, the standout is the mackerel that Byron and his ancestors have been catching here for years is a true staple that the hero. Panna cotta is a bit of a play. You know, we’re playing with local indigenous ingredients with a real traditional, almost my backgrounds, European, so it’s almost a European dish and I like the idea that we can play together and make it happen.
Adele More 09:28
Right well it sounds fantastic. Everyone should get along to that and enjoy some local indigenous cultural dishes. Thank you.
Gennavieve Lyons 09:36
It’s going to be quite a night at the Windmill. So don’t forget to book your place to find out more about our local indigenous history and culture. Another exciting event that’s got Bundaberg buzzing is the State of Origin Maroons Fan Day on June 1, where we’ll welcome current footy stars and legends of the game to town. There’ll be free entry to the Bundaberg Multiplex Sport and Convention Centre from 9am giving footy supporters a chance to meet their favourite Maroons players topped off with a street parade free rides, live music and more. Head to whatsonbundaberg.com for more information and to register. That’s all for today. I hope you enjoyed this week’s podcast. Join me again next week for more stories from across the region. Bye for now.