This week is extra special for Netball SA's The Hospital Research Foundation Group Premier League as it marks the first of two First Nations Rounds.
All eight clubs will wear their First Nations dresses, and below, will share the stories behind each design.
The Court 1 clash between Oakdale Netball Club and South Adelaide Netball Club will be live streamed via The Advertiser, with both League and Reserves set to feature.
Ahead of the League division match, a special presentation will take place as athletes from the SAASTA Aboriginal Netball Academy present shoes to the Adelaide Thunderbirds athletes, designed and painted in honour of Suncorp Super Netball's First Nations Rounds that kick off this weekend.
An Acknowledgment of Country will also take place, presented by SAASTA Aboriginal Netball Academy athletes Clarisha Graham and Meg Lock.
DRESS DESIGN STORIES
Contax Netball Club
Artwork Titled: Connecting – My Club, My Culture
Rickelle Peris painted an amazing story on canvas for Contax which was uplifted with her guidance to our Indigenous uniform you will see tonight. This is the meaning of the artwork and her story. Thank you again Richelle, so very proud and thankful for you to bring this story to life in our First Nations Uniform.
This piece was design in collaboration with Contax Netball Club in wanting to depict a sense, a style and design that represents and shows the club’s values, history and commitment to reconciliation.
The design shows that each of the teams within the club are inter-connected and that they are representing a strong, supported and long history of strong and competitive women playing Netball. The design also shows that no matter how big, small, white or black, Contax is a home for those who love the sport, the culture and who are fighting for a better future for the next generations.
About the artist
Rickelle Peris is a young aspiring Aboriginal artist from the Northern Territory, with a proud bloodline that streams from the Larrakia Nation in Darwin and Warramungu in Tennant Creek from her father, and Gija and Yawuru from the Kimberly’s in Northern Western Australia from her mother.
With a unique combination of traditional and modern contemporary design, her artworks represent both Larrakia (Saltwater) and Warramungu (desert).
Through her artwork, Rickelle is sharing her story, artistic ability and her connection to her culture through a modern platform that combines her culture and her love for sports to an audience who is willing to listen, learn and journey with her in a more reconciled future.
Garville Netball Club
2022 NAIDOC theme is Get up! Stand up! and mother daughter combo Melanie Pickett and Tierrah Miller have proudly designed the Garville 2021/2022 dress.
Tierrah and Melanie are both Yamatji Noongah women from Western Australia. Tierrah is a playing member of our Premier League squad and mum Melanie is a proud supporter of her daughter (and whole family), our club and her ancestors stories.
This is their story:
As you look at our design you will see the different shapes and symbols which we use in our Aboriginal Art to represent people, rain, water and meeting place. These symbols have been used for many years by the aboriginal people to teach our next generation our stories.
The sizes of dots in our design which we used are what we use to represents the rain. In this design the rain is shown to cleanse the lands. The circles that you also see between the rain are the symbols which we use to represent the many waterholes after a good rain.
As you look to the largest circle in the middle you will see 12 red ‘U’ shapes around it, those symbols are used to represent people which are the 12 netball players and the circle that the 12 players are around represents our meeting place which is the Garville Netball Club.
Matrics Netball Club
The dress was designed by Wulla Designs from Port Augusta. The Port Augusta community has been close to the Club for many years, especially with the Packard family and our recently retired Captain Laura Packard.
In summary, the uniform represents families and friends coming together to support their community sports and unite as one.
- The Stars represent the Club for which for we are widely known as in the community (the ‘Stars’).
- There are 3 different layers of people as shown by the circles:
- The middle circle represents the players on the court
- The next outer circle (yellow) highlights the other players and officials on the court
- The main outer circle (maroon and white) are people who sit and watch the matches and are the families and friends all coming together
- The Star in the middle are people who the Club has lost over the years (and in particular and more recently Ivy-Rose Hughes)
- The pathways represent people coming to and from the Club. They can be players and officials who progress their way to the elite part of the sport (eg Australian Diamonds, Suncorp Super Netball, Premier League etc)
- The hands are a welcoming sign into the Club
- The dots and circles represent all of the various communities that our players and families come from
Metro Jets Netball Club
The story behind our amazing dress, designed by Andrew and Madison McLeod, is perfect for our young Jets Culture! (Seventh Premier League Season)
The Seven Stars represent the Seven Sisters playing the Jets Way: strong, fierce, relentless and united. The varied star sizes represent the journey from juniors to seniors, with our older/experienced players providing strong guidance and leadership for our younger Jets.
The circles of dots represent the coming together of people from all different backgrounds, players, coaches, umpires, volunteers, families and sponsors, supporting one another and empowering each other, as part of our Jets Culture. #SevenSisters #OneClub #JetsFamily
Newton Jaguars Netball Club
The story behind the design, created by Chelsea Holloway and Jordan Wanganeen:
The lines to meeting places shows us all on our different netball journeys, then at the bottom where it comes into the circles represents everyone all at the club - its coaches, officials, players etc. The hands represent the members our squad. Overall It’s about the playing group as individual’s going through their own netball journey and all coming together as one at the Newton Jaguars Netball Club.
Oakdale Netball Club
Released in 2021, the Oakdale Premier League dress features a design created by current Inter player, Kylah Adams.
The story behind the design is the story of Kylah and the game of netball. The serpent represents Adnyamathanha Country and the community coming together. The feet represent the journey to and from the game. The blue represents the people coming together to watch and enjoy the game and the white represents the movement of how the game is played.
Kylah and Oakdale Netball Club would like to acknowledge Sam Gollan from Meiwi Aboriginal Art for mentoring Kylah which enabled her to create such a beautiful and meaningful design for our Club.
Oakdale are very grateful and honored to have such talent within our Club and thank Kylah for her time and effort in creating and contributing the design for our use.
South Adelaide Netball Club
South Adelaide's design was largely informed by the conversations the designer Elizabeth Close had with Courtney and Jordan, where we collaboratively came up with some core values that they wanted to embed within the artwork. These core values speak to the broader values as a club, particularly as this is the inaugural season for the SANC, The Woods Panthers having entered into a partnership with the South Adelaide Football Club.
This gave us an opportunity to really speak to the notion of ‘coming together’ and creating a new family and community within the club - values that are central to Indigenous ways of knowing and being - to create a united community with a shared journey and common goal.
Tango Netball Club
Sienna, the club's Primary 1 player and a member of the Indigenous community at Tango. Sienna, along with the help of Chaani, designed the beautiful Indigenous dresses and the club's inclusive bibs that were seen across the AMND and Premier League Competitions on Friday night, Saturday and this coming Monday night.
“The story is about people from different communities or backgrounds coming together from different communities/places. The coolamons are used as a different way of representing all the different things that everyone has to offer. The campfires symbolise common grounds as a place to share stories and come together no matter where they are from. Sharing stories is important as they let others know that if they are going through a similar experience that they are not alone, and when you come together, you can achieve anything.”- Sienna
The club thanks Sienna and Chaani for their beautiful and inspiring contributions.
