NAIDOC Week 2015
Thursday, July 9, 2015 at 9:00AM 
With special guest:
- Dale Huddleston
We hear a lot about “the Intervention”, Aboriginal incarceration rates, and problems in Aboriginal communities. Not so much about the positive stories relating to the original inhabitants of Australia.
In today’s program we have an opportunity to listen to Dale Huddleston who is a renowned Aboriginal artist and musician, Chairman of the Burrunju Aboriginal Corporation and Outreach Worker for the Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation in Canberra.
Dale is a visual artist specialising in mural design having completed more than 200 murals. He is also a professional musician and has been for 25 years. Of particular interest for us is that Dale works in the youth sector mentoring young men and designing diversionary programs in the areas of sport, art and music. His sporting links include experience as a graded Rugby League player for the Canberra Raiders.
It is wonderful to hear from Dale about the success he is having with the young Indigenous community over a wide area in NSW. Dale works with boys as young as 8 through to young men of 25 and is opening their eyes to the world of expression in art and music. The satisfying part for Dale is when the art they produce goes with his young charges as they get on with their lives.
Dale invites listeners to go to the Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation website to see what is being done in its drug and alcohol section. On the site is a music DVD called Beyond Today which is a part of a campaign based on the principle that it’s up to you. The campaign was developed by the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and is supported by the ACT Government Health Directorate. Beyond Today - it’s up to you is a community-led campaign to help reduce the rate of tobacco smoking and increase healthy lifestyles among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the ACT and surrounding areas.
Listeners to our program can hear Dale talking of his work in the community and also have the opportunity of listening to his music with The Riverbank Band. The second song we play, Simple Things, written by Dale to his daughter when she was a baby is a rare treat. All parents will know the feeling expressed in the lyric and the country music score is perfect.
NAIDOC Week or any week it is great to hear from Dale Huddleston.
Dale Huddleston
Dale Huddleston is a songwriter and professional musician, artist and youth worker. Dale works in the youth sector mentoring young men, designing diversionary programs in the areas of sport and within the visual & performing arts sector. He is a former Rugby League graded player with the Canberra Raiders and an administrator with experience at junior and senior levels. Dale is the Chairman of the Burrunju Aboriginal Corporation in Canberra. In his role as an outreach worker for the Gugan-Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corp he liaises with rehabilitation and correctional institutions. As a singer and songwriter he has performed at numerous festivals and has two CDs available performed with The Riverbank Band.
Song selections by our guest: Southern Sapphire Day &Simple Things both by Dale Robert Huddleston and The Riverbank Band from the Simple Things album