The GIANTS and the Queensland Firebirds gathered on Wangal country for the first week of Suncorp Super Netball's two week long, dedicated First Nations round.
Both teams participated in a smoking ceremony pre-match, as well as gift exchange, live welcome to country and cultural performance from the Jannawi dance clan.
The GIANTS gifted the Firebirds a piece of artwork, painted by their dress designer and proud Gamilaroi woman, Krystal Dallinger.
"The painting represents the strong connection to country that First Nations people continue to have across this land. The canvas tells the story of connection whether you are on country or off country. The many different pathways, connections, communities you feel you belong to as you move through your journey makes up the many different feelings of our identity, although there is no feeling like the one you feel when you are home. The place of belonging, a place of family, a place that completes you. It represents the connections we have between us all as we make our way from opportunity to opportunity, community to community and with new connections and old."
The Firebirds gifted the GIANTS a glass boomerang on red gum timber by Wathaurong Glass & Arts.
"As old as creation, the boomerang is a symbol of cultural endurance for First Nations people and serves as a tangible link to their millennia-long presence on this continent. The glass boomerang on red gum timber represents this cultural link as well as a connection to country via the timber base. This gift symbolises strength, resilience, and the ability to return home."
The GIANTS and the Swifts will play in the second week of First Nations round this Sunday, in a sold out match at Ken Rosewall Arena.
