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Join us for our exclusive new series Whatchamacallit meet our artists, change-makers and cultural icons.

Join our Community to Watch
Whatchamacallit: Host, Appraiser and Guests
Rhoda Roberts AOWhatchamacallit Host Watch Now
Djon Mundine OAMWhatchamacallit Appraiser, Curator, Writer, Artist, Activist Watch Now
Episode One: Stan GrantJournalist, Author, Writer Watch Now
Episode Two: Mark OliveChef, Filmmaker, Author, Restaurateur Watch Now
Episode Three: Rhyan Clapham (aka Dobby)Musician, Composer, Hip Hop Performer Watch Now
Episode Four: Chloe Quayle (aka Barkaa)Musician, Composer, Performer, Writer Watch Now
Episode Five: Ziggy RamoMusician, Composer, Performer, Writer Watch Now
Episode Six: Matty MillsActor, TV Host, Cultural Guide Watch Now

Take a front seat as we feature some of our most loved artists, change-makers and cultural connoisseurs.

— Whatchamacallit Host

Art is a cultural expression; a history of a people; a statement through a series of life experiences of self-definition

— Whatchamacallit Appraiser, Curator, Writer, Artist, Activist

Is racism killing the Australian Dream.

— Journalist, Author, Writer

I learnt to cook from watching mum and my aunty. Like all Aboriginal kids you hang in the kitchen.

— Chef, Filmmaker, Author, Restaurateur

I can't breathe, You're taking my life from me, I can't breathe, Will anyone fight for me?

— Musician, Composer, Hip Hop Performer

I see independent tiddas, you all make me big proud

— Musician, Composer, Performer, Writer

I am not speaking on behalf of anyone. I am simply sharing my lived experience.

— Musician, Composer, Performer, Writer

The thing in my heart I’m most proud of is being an Aboriginal man

— Actor, TV Host, Cultural Guide

Whatchamacallit: Icons, Objects and Country

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An Aboriginal experience up close and personal is unlike anything you have experienced.  Join the Welcome to Country community and take a front seat as we feature some of our most loved artists, change-makers and cultural connoisseurs. We find out what makes them tick and why they are so driven.

To access this exclusive series you will have to be part of the Welcome to Country community

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Rhoda Roberts AO

Whatchamacallit Host

Watch Now

Rhoda Roberts AO our host is Bundjalung from the Widjabul peoples whose unceded lands cross the northern rivers of NSW including the sweet water mountain streams, the rainforest and lush valleys of Nimbin. It was during the 1970 with a new wave of visitors seeking a sanctuary and alternative life that change began to occur. A new dialogue, transpired and there was an interest of the continued language our families spoke, the Bundjalung and their knowledge of the land management, use of plants and there was a desire to have an awareness of the deep connection to Country. It changed the region. For Rhoda was the first Aboriginal to host a prime-time current affairs program in the 1980’s and has continued to work cross the arts and cultural field. The creative sector is a platform that is vital and enables the valuing and fostering of inherited birthrights, enables those uncomfortable conversations and encourages new expressions.

Watch Now

Take a front seat as we feature some of our most loved artists, change-makers and cultural connoisseurs.

— Whatchamacallit Host

Djon Mundine OAM

Whatchamacallit Appraiser, Curator, Writer, Artist, Activist

Watch Now

  Djon is one of the country’s most senior arts curators and educators, and a celebrated foundational figure in the criticism and exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal art. 

The 2020 Red Ochre Award recipient Djon has held many senior curatorial positions at the National Museum of Australia, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Art Gallery of New South Wales and Campbelltown Art Centre. The National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku) in Osaka, Japan and Research Professor in the Department of Social Research University of NSW. 

He Joins us each show, as our cultural arts appraiser for our Object segment form the quirky, ancient and unknown objects our guests are invited to bring-whatchamacallit.

Watch Now

Art is a cultural expression; a history of a people; a statement through a series of life experiences of self-definition

— Whatchamacallit Appraiser, Curator, Writer, Artist, Activist

Episode One: Stan Grant

Journalist, Author, Writer

Watch Now

Stan Grant to many he is the global man reporting the war stories, the risk taker where danger is in each mortar fired, to others he is the author who talks of Country where success is measured very differently. He is the father who remembers the influences of writers such as James Baldwin, it helped to shape his moral compass.

Join us on thew winding path of Stan’s travels, his Country and the things that he has picked up along the way.

Watch Now

Is racism killing the Australian Dream.

— Journalist, Author, Writer

Episode Two: Mark Olive

Chef, Filmmaker, Author, Restaurateur

Watch Now

Mark Olive (aka ‘The Black Olive’) is one of Australia's First Indigenous Five-star chefs and he has a global following with his The Outback Cafe series, pioneering the use of native foods in fine Cuisine.

The restaurant Dabpeto -meaning water plenty -is the original name for Daptop. Many know of this town for greyhound racing but with the opening of Dabpeto, one of the few Aboriginal run restaurants, providing local employment, Mark had big dreams. Covid hit, and life has been very different for Mark but the passion for fusing native food and culture with contemporary lifestyle cooking is growing. He wants every Australian to experience what we have that is so unique, and don’t get him started on superfoods.

Watch Now

I learnt to cook from watching mum and my aunty. Like all Aboriginal kids you hang in the kitchen.

— Chef, Filmmaker, Author, Restaurateur

Episode Three: Rhyan Clapham (aka Dobby)

Musician, Composer, Hip Hop Performer

Watch Now

Rhyan Clapham comes from the world’s first engineers and stone masons, whose knowledge of physics and water ecology is profound. It’s a birthright he is proud of, the Murrawarri territories straddle the border of the states of New South Wales and Queensland.

Dobby is a recipient of the Peter Sculthorpe Music Fellowship and has composed Pitara Yaan Muruwarikiand a new chamber music offering. For Dobby it’s also about language reclamation in the music. His work across many genres of music has seen him deemed as one of the new wave of Aboriginal creatives.

Watch Now

I can't breathe, You're taking my life from me, I can't breathe, Will anyone fight for me?

— Musician, Composer, Hip Hop Performer

Episode Four: Chloe Quayle (aka Barkaa)

Musician, Composer, Performer, Writer

Watch Now

The Barkindji people of the Darling, call their freshwater River the Barka, translated it is mother. Chloe Quayle uses the stage name Barkaa the relates to her matriarchal connections. Her debut single “For My Tittas" put her on the map and was a renewed reclamation of  the language and the dance,  once so feared, it was outlawed. Now on a fast and steady incline as a critical contributor to Australia’s musical landscape. 

Barkaa shares times of a former life. Through a teenage pregnancy, incarnation and fuelled by a haze of drugs, she was left empty like her Barka, but her life changed and her music flows with the stories for women. 

Watch Now

I see independent tiddas, you all make me big proud

— Musician, Composer, Performer, Writer

Episode Five: Ziggy Ramo

Musician, Composer, Performer, Writer

Watch Now

Ziggy Ramo is becoming one of the most important artists in the country, releasing a new powerful statement, reworking Paul Kelly’s ‘From Little Things Big Things Grow’

With no tours happening during Covid, He has developed his second album, and the soon to be released non-fiction book, both titled Human. The book, in his own words, is “part memoir, part history and part cultural reckoning. “Being stuck inside the house has led me to become delusional enough to think that writing a book is a good idea,” Ramo wrote on Instagram, “the ultimate freedom to present my ideas in a way that is accessible for all”.

Watch Now

I am not speaking on behalf of anyone. I am simply sharing my lived experience.

— Musician, Composer, Performer, Writer

Episode Six: Matty Mills

Actor, TV Host, Cultural Guide

Watch Now

Matty Mills is the quiet achiever of the entertainment industry, recently named Getaways first-ever Indigenous presenter. He began his career in 2014 covering the first NAIDOC addition of The Star Observer Magazine with a bold statement; Gay, Black and Proud. From here he has gone on to work as a host for NITV covering everything from Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, The Dreamtime Awards and the Wallabies Test Series. Most recently, Matty Mills is an Entertainment reporter on Big Mob Brekky, Australia's first all-Indigenous morning show, on NITV and SBS and has created his first online series, In The Moment with Matty Mills, a 1-1 conversational series based on the achievements, challenges and stories of Indigenous people from around the world.

Whatchamacallit yarned with Matty on finding his Father, rediscovering his Sky Father and how the rivers of culture ebbed and flowed through his life.

Watch Now

The thing in my heart I’m most proud of is being an Aboriginal man

— Actor, TV Host, Cultural Guide

Shop from over 1,000 Indigenous Products

When buying from the Welcome to Country store you are not only buying a beautiful product; you are buying products that directly benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and communities. Welcome to Country source items from artists, art centres and manufactures who have licence agreements with artists and pay fair royalties.

At Welcome to Country we understand that not everyone is looking to buy a major art work, our focus is to make all purchases fair and beneficial for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and their communities. If properly licensed, every art silk scarf, piece of jewellery or weaving can fairly pay artists, help keep art centres open and the world’s oldest living culture strong.

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Welcome to Country

  • Our story
  • Our purpose
  • Our supporters
  • FAQs

Operators

  • Our Operators
  • Operator FAQ
  • Operator support
  • Register your interest

Need help?

  • Terms and conditions
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  • Privacy policy
  • Imagery

Insights

  • Our Blog
  • Welcome to Country
  • Visiting communities
  • Media
  • Facebook
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We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
@ 2019 Welcome to Country. All rights reserved.
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