Kununurra Pride Party Brings Community Together
With a population of just 5000, the small town of Kununurra is as about remote as you can possibly get. Though for a small town in the middle of the Kimberly, Kununurra has a big and colourful community at its heart.
鈥淲e are way up in the East Kimberly, at the top of Australia, we are 10 hours drive north of Broome and eight hours inland south of Darwin. It鈥檚 quite small, there are limited flights in and out, and we are surrounded here by other local communities,鈥� Kate Doherty, a Kununurra local explained.
Last year Kate and the Kununurra Network Of Queers took it upon themselves to organise the towns inaugural Pride event,听A Night Under The Stars.
鈥淧ride events happen in small towns all over Australia, so we thought 鈥榳hat should make our town any different?鈥�
鈥淲e had a fantastic event last year and again this year. It鈥檚 not only about creating a fun night, it also creates awareness in a town which is lacking in its response to gender identity, sexuality and race. 听It鈥檚 an event that welcomes everyone and is a little step towards educating those who aren鈥檛 aware of such things, which in turn helps with mental health issues, particularly in our rural communities.鈥�
听In towns just like Kununurra many communities are centred around the local sports club, with these space鈥檚 often doubling as both formal and informal meeting places for locals and out of towners alike.
鈥淲hen you walk in, you walk past indoor cricket nets, football jerseys, soccer jerseys, trophies and then the Pride flags. Ours really is a long-standing club which is here for anyone and everyone. And especially for a rural town, to make everyone feel accepted is really important.
鈥淚 realised at the sports club, being a community club they were supporting a lot of fundraisers but nothing supporting the LGBTQI community. This event has helped raised awareness.鈥�
Free tickets to this year鈥檚 event,听Rainbow Moon,听sold out within hours. And despite the current COVID-19 restrictions 鈥渢he night was full of love, full of glitter, and full of smiles, the energy was amazing.
鈥淲e made it a free ticketed event; we didn鈥檛 want money to be the reason people couldn鈥檛 come.
鈥淲e had the local dance school, local ballet dancers and our local queens performing as well.鈥�
听Aside from the now annual Pride event, the town鈥檚 LGBTQI community have begun more regular catch-ups at the local sport club explained Kate.
鈥淜ununurra Network Of Queers was started up last year by my friend Adam. They meet at the club on the first Thursday of the month for sun downers and chats. At the start there was only three or four coming each month, now we have more than 10.
鈥淔or a town where people are either shy to identify themselves, or shy to just go out and meet people the more new people we get, the more it melts my heart.鈥�
