The poster competition winners have been announced! And congratulations go to Duwun and Laniyuk Lee from Darwin for their awesome poster  titled Advanced Australia Fair?

From the NAIDOC Website:

The brothers’ artwork was judged best in a field of 100 entries from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists across Australia, including some from remote desert communities and, for the first time, the Torres Strait. The competition carries a prize of $5,000.

The winning image features the word ‘Sorry’ on a vibrant red and orange background, with an emu and kangaroo (both in ochre) in the foreground. These are surrounded by the Southern Cross, which is connected by bold, wavy black lines.

“For the background, we have used the colours of the land, the sorry is in blue representing water and a healing point,” the Lee brothers said. “The Southern Cross is in the colours of the sunset, the time when it first comes out. The lines connecting the Southern Cross represent the spirits of our ancestors that are looking down on us and keeping an eye on us…(and) the orange is power and knowledge that they have and have given.”

The emu and the kangaroo from the Australian coat of arms have been swapped left to right “to represent the switch in the Government’s attitude” with its decision to apologise to members of the Stolen Generations.

Chairperson of the National NAIDOC Committee, Aden Ridgeway, said the committee had been very pleased with the standard of entries and the fact that they had come from all parts of the country.

“I congratulate Duwun and Laniyuk Lee on winning the competition with their wonderful work. This is a prestigious award that is getting harder to win each year as an increasing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists take the opportunity to showcase their talent,” Mr Ridgeway said.

The winning artwork will be reproduced on the 2008 NAIDOC Week poster, which will be distributed to Indigenous Coordination Centres and direct to the public across Australia over the coming weeks. To order free copies of the poster, please call 1800 050 009.

More info can be found at www.naidoc.org.au

Yup. We’re gonna have a Nintendo Wii in the Library.

And we’ll have it set up and some games bought by the time the school holidays start. It’ll be just for playing here - no games for loan just right now sorry.  Have you got any favourite games you think we should buy? email yasmin.greenhalgh@northsydney.nsw.gov.au

Stay tuned for more news - including what times you’ll be able to come and play.

And don’t forget our Softies workshop. Limited spaces, so book now.