Kuradji Dreaming

Photo: Erin O'Dwyer

Tune in to ABC Radio National's 360 program on Saturday 30 May for a special radio feature on community, respect and understanding.

http://www.abc.net.au/rn/360/

In 2000, a mostly white community, at Sandon Point near Wollongong, rallied under an Aboriginal flag to try to stop a multi-million dollar housing development, planned for the Sandon Point headland.

Some years before, the ancient remains of an Aboriginal 'clever man' or Kuradji, had been discovered on the same site, and indigenous activists and local surfers joined forces to oppose the development. Despite years of court challenges and protests, the housing estate went ahead - but down on the beach, in the shadows of the looming steel-and-glass housing estate, the Aboriginal flag still flies. The Aboriginal tent embassy is the richest humpy on the beach, and the legacy of shared community understanding remains.

Journalist Erin O'Dwyer lives near Sandon Point and covered the original court cases for the local newspaper. In her first radio feature, we join her as she explores her local community and learns why the spirit of Kuradji lives on at Sandon Point.




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