Celebrating the Gannawarra's new Welcome to Country video
Published on 27 February 2026
Festivities will be held next month to mark the launch of the Gannawarra’s new Welcome to Country video.
Gannawarra Shire Council, Mallee District Aboriginal Services and Northern District Community Health are hosting the launch of the video at The Glasshouse, Kerang on Friday, 20 March from 4pm-5.30pm.
The event will provide the local Aboriginal community with the opportunity to come together with the wider community to view the video and to celebrate the children, young people and Elders involved in its development.
Filmed at Lake Meran in September 2025, the Kerang Elders and Leaders Group worked with Council, MDAS and NDCH in revising the video, which replaces the Welcome to Country video produced in 2019.
“Council is pleased to have worked with the Kerang Elders and Leaders Group to develop this new version of the Welcome to Country video,” Council Chief Executive Officer, Geoff Rollinson said.
“The new Welcome to Country video modernises the original video ensuring it represents the current Aboriginal community, particularly children, young people and Elders.
“The video has also been improved through the incorporation of Barapa language and promotion of landscapes and cultural practices that provide a learning opportunity for all.”
The premiere of the new video will coincide with the opening of a photographic exhibition featuring 25 professional images taken during the video shoot, which will be on display in The Glasshouse until Friday, 10 April.
The updated Welcome to Country video corresponds with Council recently adopting the revised Welcome to Country Video Clip Protocol, which outlines when the video can be broadcast. The protocol ensures that the use of the video recognises and pays respect to the Welcome to Country custom of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as well as acknowledging their ongoing connection to Country.
“As a Welcome to Country is an official Aboriginal custom, a Welcome to Country Video Clip Protocol sits alongside the video to authorise its wider use where an Elder is not available to conduct a Welcome to Country, or where it is impractical to have an Elder from that Country attend to conduct a Welcome, such as at the monthly Council Meeting,” Mr Rollinson said.
The revised Gannawarra Welcome to Country Video Clip was funded by Emergency Recovery Victoria as part of the Aboriginal Self-Determination pillar of the 2022 Flood Recovery Program, funded jointly by the Victorian and Commonwealth Government funding under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements (DRFA).
TOP: Filming of the revised Welcome to Country video occurred at Lake Meran in September 2025.