On Thursday July 11th 2024, Woollahra with the support of Maarda hosted our inaugural NAIDOC Week Event at Woollahra HQ.
We were proud to welcome more than 120 guests including key customers such as Rio Tinto, BHP, Roy Hill, Fortescue, Mineral Resources, ISS Facilities Services Australia, Civeo, Compass Group, Sodexo, Programmed, All Clean, Charles Services Co to name a few.
We also had key suppliers on hand to share information about their business including Makita, CRC, Kimberley Clark Professional, Gripps, West Coast Waddi, Jalbi, Keipa Hydrate, For My Sisters, Soap Aid, Spinifex & Surekleen.
The event began with a beautiful traditional smoking ceremony and Welcome to Country delivered by Aunty Geri Hayden.
We then had a thoughtful speech from Woollahra Managing Director Chris Schmid, who shared his own journey and his vision for Woollahra.
This was followed by a heartfelt discussion about the meaning of NAIDOC Week and the importance of the 2024 theme "Keeping the Fire Burning" delivered by Woollahra Director Reen Richards. Reen's speech was concluded with a show-stopping didgeridoo performance with the assistance of his young children Sonny & Finn Richards.
We then head from Brooke-Louise O'Donnell from Maarda who shared her vision for Maarda and the impact on supporting Indigenous Design and Art on Indigenous Culture.
Woollahra General Manager then concluded proceedings by highlighting some of the amazing achievements made by Woollahra and Surekleen in the past 12 months, resulting in the announcement that we had collectively shared more than $210K with our Joint Venture partners in the past 12 months!
Following speeches, the audience was free to roam around our warehouse and chat with our suppliers as well as taking part in a Community Canvass Artwork Project that was run by Ieesha Wyatt. Ieesha was an absolute legend, who was able to fill in at the very last minute, when Maarda Founder Kevin Bynder went down with illness.
The artwork that was created is an incredible piece that Surekleen will be using in future packaging designs as a collective reminder of our shared journey and the outcomes that we can create when we work together!
The day was an incredible success and we couldn't be prouder of our team that put in so much hard work and energy to ensure that our guests were treated to such a unique and inspiring afternoon.
Thank you to everyone who attended and to all of you who contributed to making such an amazing day possible!
