Ron Callaghan & Kyarna Celebrating with Song: NAIDOC WEEK 2025

In July, we welcome Ron Callaghan and Kyarna-Rose of the Yuin Nation to share their songs and stories, honouring the strength, resilience, and creativity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Dr Joyce Donovan will open the concert with a welcome to the country, and her great-grandson Quinten Dingo-Donovan, a student at Dapto High School, will perform.

Kyarna shares:

'I have been performing at NAIDOC events around the Illawarra since I was a teenager. It’s always an uplifting experience, both for me personally and as a singer-songwriter. The songs I write are deeply personal. By sharing my stories about love, loss, addiction, and grief, I invite listeners to pause and reflect, to draw them into a space where they can connect in a meaningful way.

We would like to showcase the Ngana Barangarai Project at the concert, allowing the audience to purchase copies of Dreaming Inside. Tonight, we aim to buy artwork from the launch of their next anthology at the Gallery. We intend to present this work to the artists as a gift, highlighting the importance of and celebrating the valuable work being done through the Ngana Barangarai Project.

This is part of the Emerging Concert Artists 2025 series, produced by Inspire Music Australia, and presented at Wollongong Art Gallery.

Tickets are free but bookings are essential via Humantix.