SFID MEDIA RELEASE: DINGO DAY/ART FOR EARTH 15/12/10

SFID MEDIA RELEASE: DINGO DAY/ART FOR EARTH


Once again the community has come to support the outreach work of Save Fraser Island Dingoes (SFID), and this time for the second annual Dingo Day at Hervey Bay.

This year, it was not just SFID that wanted to give a voice to the voiceless, but also world-famous Art-For-Earth candle-artist, Jorje Pujol.

Despite the setback of a delay due to weather, the actual event coincided with an almost miraculously sunny day.

The generosity of the HB business community and of Jorje’s hard-working team allowed what would otherwise have cost approx $16,000, to go ahead at half that cost due to donations of time, money, and equipment.

Due to rescheduling, numbers were down on the thousand plus that attended last year’s Dingo Day, but SFID and Jorje were not deterred. 9 marquees donated by local businesses were set up at Dayman Park along with a semi-trailer which was used as a performance stage, and cherry picker was used as a viewing and photography platform for those who attended. This was operated all day by Ron Corfield. The view from up there was spectacular.

The cherry picker also provided an aerial platform for a spectacular, crowd-stopping rendition of didgeridoo playing by Hayden Richards and Travis Page.

Pulses quickened as we all tried to get paper-bags filled with sand in preparation for placement of the candles.

The day also saw the launch of the long-awaited dingo book: Vanishing Icon: The Fraser Island Dingo by Jennifer Parkhurst. Jen was kept busy all day signing personalized copies and most stock sold out.

Jorje also arranged for Jen and the crew from Aus Story to be taken into the air by Hervey Bay Skydivers to personally photograph the effigy of the dingo as it took shape.

The Butchulla people once again showed their support for the cause by presenting a ‘welcome to country’ followed by indigenous story-telling and dance. The crowd of onlookers was invited to get up and dance and eagerly did so.

Ray Revill from Tess wildlife sanctuary and a large group of volunteers held an informative and interesting stand which incorporated live snakes, recued birds and a joey which they are currently caring for. Ray also managed to rescue a panting xxx hawk that was stuck in the fronds of a palm tree in the heat of the day.

The Nefertiti Dancers and the Fraser Coast Tae kwon Do club gave interesting performances.

Ted Sorensen and his PA’s Paula and Michael and some of their friends made a huge effort to help fill the sand bags and place them on the outline. SFID would like to thank Ted and staff for always attending our functions and showing their support. We would also like to thank Glen Elmes for his support throughout the past year, and welcome Mr Jack Dempsey as the new Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Sustainability.

Malcolm Kilpatrick as Master of Ceremonies did an amazing job as usual.

The climax of the day began with a fire lighting ceremony during which the youngest member of the Butchulla representatives, 7 year old Dyneale, passed a flame to Jennifer Parkhurst as a living metaphor of the Butchulla people’s respect for Jen’s efforts to preserve and protect their native dog.

A helicopter hovered above to capture the moment as three sky divers were launched from a plane, and landed perfectly in the centre of the effigy. All eyes were fixed to the divers as they landed… and cheers, applause, and sighs of wonderment were heard all around.

The crowd was then invited to light their own candles from Jen’s flame, and thus the candles on the ground in the outline of the dingo were lit by the enthusiastic crowd.

Tears of pleasure and emotion fell with the setting sun as the dingo came to life.

Professional photographer Grant Conlon took beautiful still photos from the helicopter until the light was too dim to continue.

The cherry picker was operated by Ron non-stop as people from the crowd gathered to take their turn at viewing the image from the elevated vantage point. At that height, the dingoes seemed to come to light in flickering glory. The moon rose and a colony of bats flew overhead, creating the perfect backdrop to the haunting scene.

All in all it was an extremely successful event, and will be viewed by an expected audience of thousands world wide once Jorje adds it to his you-tube site (Art For Earth). We express our heartfelt thanks to Jorje Pujol for working so hard and tirelessly over the past three months to make this a reality.

SFID would like to thank all of our supporters and sponsors, some of whom are named below.

The planning, fund-raising, advertising and implementation of this event was once again accomplished by the hard work of the volunteers of SFID.

Thank you also to the media which has supported the event, including SOS news, Channel 7, Win TV, Australian Story, Fraser Coast Radio FM, Hervey Bay Independent, Gympie Times, Noosa Journal, Fraser Coast Chronicle, AAP.

Last but not least we are grateful for the support of Bob and Judy Irwin, and the late Malcolm Douglas whose last piece of footage, made for us, was an encouragement to keep up the fight

We would also like to extend our thanks to Inkworks, Turning Point Technologies, Hervey Bay Wholesalers, David’s Ultra Music, Express Bookkeeping, Bay Central IGA, Deb Wittman and the K’Gari Dancers, Peter Scopelitis, Nefertiti Dancers, Tae Kwon Do School & M&K Wide Bay Electronics.

semi-trailer donated by Richer’s Transport
cherry picker donated by Maryborough Crane Hire

Sand was donated by Byrne Brothers, and many people ‘sponsored’ paper bags and candles, including the Wildlife Warriors from Australia Zoo and Paulette Oldfield from Suncorp.

Sea Bird Aviation

Hervey Bay Skydivers

Fuel was donated by Ron Corfield

MI Helicopters

Marquees donated by channel 7, Wide Bay Water, Hervey Bay RSL

Cheryl McCullum from Bundy $500

SFID Committee and members who arrived on site at 6am, and stayed till well after 9.30 pm cleaning and packing up.