Doomadgee Under the Stars

Doomadgee Under the Stars will be a magical night like no other. On July 8th the remote community of Doomadgee will be holding a NAIDOC Ball under the stars. The incredible event will be held along the picturesque Nicolson River and is being organised by Cairns based group, Empowering Women Empowering Communities (EWEC). The event will be a chance for the community to look and feel amazing, EWEC founder Yolonde Entsch says the ball will be a:

“night that the Doomadgee community will remember for the rest of their lives, that their children and grandchildren will be talking about”

From left: Tennisha Walden (18), Shyeisha Lorraine (20) & Leeara Chong (15). Photo by Yolonde Entsch.

The ball is expected to attract up to 600 guests and a key part of putting it all together has been collecting suits, gowns and accessories to dress the beautiful guests. Yolonde Entsch's Facebook Post calling for clothing donations went viral generating more than two million views and as such there has been a flood of donations from right across Australia and even the United States.

Clothing donations is just one of the ways that people have been supporting, all sorts of people have also been offering their services. Celebrity stylist Dale McKie who has styled for the likes of Guy Sebastian is making the trip up to style the attendees and a Sydney based photographer who will be holidaying in Mount Isa at the time of ball has offered to drive up and capture the beautiful event.

Doomadgee local Miranda Peter (23) and her daughter looking absolutely gorgeous. Photo by Yolode Entsch.

It’s incredible to see this community and people from all over Australia come together to create a beautiful event that will make a real impact on the lives of the people from this remote community. Another supporter that has come onboard is talented Indigenous artist Nunyara Me. She is auctioning her gorgeous painting “Good Energy Only” to raise funds for the night. 

“Good Energy Only” by Nunyara Me.

Further support is still definitely needed and a GoFundMe page has been created to help with the cost of things like transporting equipment and staging to the community. It is a tricky undertaking holding an event of this size in such a remote location, everything needs to be transported in and this is costly. If you would like to support, you can find their GoFundMe page here.

Here at Yarn we are proud to support this wonderful event and are hugely excited for everyone to have the opportunity to get dressed up and have a  wonderful time under the stars.