Surf club wanting to hold carnivals and a fundraising swim on a public beach is charged $2,000 to pay for Welcome to Country ceremonies

A surf club was told it would have to pay $2,000 to an Aboriginal corporation for the rights to hold surf events and a fundraising swim at a public beach.

The Yamba Surf Club, on NSW’s far north coast, had made a request with the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation to use the town’s main beach to hold four events, including a nippers carnival and a fundraising ocean swim over summer.

The club was told it would have to pay a $500 service fee for each event for the corporation to perform Welcome to Country ceremonies. 

Surf club members had made the request after the Yaegl people were granted native title over land in the area in 2015, and a stretch of the ocean in 2017.

While members of the Yamba Surf Club were enraged by the fee, Yaegl Traditional Owners Corporation general manager Bill Walker said a ‘misunderstanding’ was to blame.

He told The Daily Telegraph the request should have come from the local council or state government, and the fee charged to them – not the surf club.

‘It’s a confusing process. We get a lot of negative s**t from people who don’t understand the welcome to country. We don’t do it as a living, we do it as a cultural activity with a fee for service that brings in income just like any other organisation,’ he told the publication.

‘If it’s a government agency that does it, we do charge because it’s a legitimate act. But we’re not going to charge the surf life saving club.

‘As far as I’m concerned they can still do their activities and we will not be charging them a fee for service, because the right people didn’t come to us in the first place. It should have been the state or local government.’

Surf club officials had written to the corporation telling them that they understood the importance of respecting native title rights ‘and are committed to ensuring that our activities comply with all relevant regulations and agreements’.

An official from the Yaegl wrote back to the surf club stating that a $500 ‘fee for service payment’ was required to be paid ‘directly to the Corporation who will then engage a Yaegl Native Title Holder to administer a Welcome to Country’.    

‘The Corporation will send through an invoice for payment once the event has occurred and as we are a non for profit (sic) organisation we would appreciate a prompt turnaround time for payment to be administered,’ the letter said.

‘This will support all visitors and participants to these fundraising events (to) retain an understanding of the importance of respecting Yaegl people’s Native Title Rights and Interests on Land and Sea and Waterways when competing (on) or visiting our beautiful Yaegl Country.’

The club was told it would have to pay a $500 service fee for each event for the corporation to perform Welcome to Country ceremonies (pictured is Welcome to Country ceremony before Super Rugby match)

A standard fee for welcome to country ceremonies ranges from $300 to $750, according to the National Association for the Visual Arts.

One surf club member member told the publication a lot of people were ‘outraged’ by the request.

‘It’s pretty un-Australian to charge anyone to use the beach, let alone volunteer surf lifesavers wanting to compete and raise funds for their club,’ he said.

Another member added that surf club were already struggling financially. 

They added that the club’s only fundraising events were the ocean swim, a trivia night and crab race.

Mr Walker said the Yaegl had non-exclusive native title rights over the beach and reaffirmed the surf club would be free to run their activities.

A Welcome to Country is a ceremony performed by Traditional Custodians to welcome visitors to their ancestral land and usually takes place in the form of singing, dancing and smoking ceremonies. 

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Yamba Surf Club and the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation for further comment.