The Tweed Seagulls Rugby League Football Club has formed a new partnership with Eximm, which will provide us with additional support to launch our inaugural Indigenous Jersey for 2023. The Hostplus Cup side will wear the Indigenous Jerseys during our round twenty-one match against the Ipswich Jets. The jersey will celebrate and honour the rich cultural inheritance of the Indigenous peoples of the Bundjalung nation in which the club resides. We show equal respect to all Indigenous Australians and Torres Strait Islander people and warmly invite the Seagulls community to join us in a celebration of culture on this day.
The Tweed Seagulls RLFC, Eximm, and the Banaam group worked together to create a captivating jersey shown in the image below. Banaam Group is a consultancy that applies Indigenous cultural principles to the business world. They represent Bundjalung country and have played a vital role in the design process. Through collaboration with artists, they have gathered tales directly from elders to ensure that the artwork accurately portrays the region’s story.
The artwork, skilfully crafted by artist Malachi Urquhart under the guidance and taught art styles of Kyle Slaab, showcases the story of the Three Brothers. Aboriginal dream-time legend has it that these founding brothers Mamoonth, Yarbirri and Birrung in the very beginning, travelled from far across the sea, arriving on the Australian coast near the Clarence River. Their canoe however, was blown out to sea in a storm, so the brothers decided to build new canoes in order to return to their homeland.
They completed building the canoes but could find no sign of their mother, who had gone to look for food, so they set off without her. On returning to find she had been left behind, their mother climbed to the top of the hill at Goanna Headland near Evans Head and cursed them for abandoning her. She called to the ocean in anger.
The water rose, creating the first waves on the North Coast, and the wild seas forced the brothers back to land at Bullinah (known as Ballina). Once the seas had abated, one of the brothers returned south to find their mother. The brothers decided they spread out across the land. One went north, another west and the third to the south, forming the three branches of the Bundjalung people.
Today, this historical landing remains an important cultural symbol, celebrated by thousands of years of tradition and protected by the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
For this round, The Seagulls Club, our major partner, have generously given up their spot on the front of the jersey to make room for incoming sponsorship from Eximm. This sponsorship will assist the Banaam Group in their continual commitment to passing on the stories of the region to Indigenous youth.
Eximm believes in the importance of connecting community and are proud to sponsor this years Seagulls Indigenous Jersey as part of our long history of supporting our indigenous local communities in the Tweed and Gold Coast. We see sport as a powerful platform to foster understanding and unity within our communities here in Northern NSW and South East Queensland.
Eximm are proud to partner with Tweed Seagulls Rugby League Football Club as we share our aligned values and focus on the celebration of Indigenous community and culture.
Banaam will organise all cultural aspects of the event to enhance the authenticity and importance of the celebration. This will involve conducting educational workshops with the players in the weeks preceding the game, during which they will gain knowledge about the histories, cultures, and accomplishments of the Indigenous peoples.
The Preston Campbell Foundation has played a significant role in guiding the club’s decision-making process for building an Indigenous program. The foundation has provided support for catering at events and VIP services on game day. For this event, our foundation will provide education and offer Indigenous foods to our sponsors and VIP guests as a part of the cultural celebration.
As the players don their jerseys and step onto the field, they remind us that Rugby League is more than just a game. It provides a chance for Australians to come together, embrace shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and unite as one.
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