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 had to pay $2,000 to an Aboriginal company for the rights to host surfing events and raise money at a public beach.

The Yamba Surf Club, on the far north coast of NSW, had applied to the Yaegl Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation to use the town’s main beach to host four events, including a tangle carnival and an ocean swim to raise money in the summer.

The club was told it would have to pay a $500 service fee for each event before the company could conduct Welcome to Country ceremonies.

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

While members of the Yamba Surf Club were furious about the compensation, Bill Walker, managing director of Yaegl Traditional Owners Corporation, said a “misunderstanding” was to blame.

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

‘It’s a confusing process. We receive a lot of negative comments from people who do not understand the welcome in the country. We don’t do it for a livelihood, we do it as a cultural activity with a fee for services that generate income, just like any other organization,” he told the publication.

“If it’s a government agency doing this, we charge because it’s a legitimate action. But we’re not going to press charges against the surf rescue club.

‘As far as I’m concerned, they can still do their work and we will not charge them any service costs, because the right people did not come to us. It should have been state or local government.”

Surf club officials had written to the company to tell them they understood the importance of respecting indigenous property rights ‘and strive to ensure that our activities comply with all relevant regulations and agreements’.

A Yaegl official wrote back to the surf club and stated that a ‘service payment fee’ of $500 was to be paid ‘directly to the Corporation, who then engages a Yaegl Native Title Holder to administer a Welcome to Country’.

“The company will send an invoice for payment once the event has occurred and since we are a non-profit organization, we would appreciate a quick turnaround time for payment,” the letter said.

‘This will support all visitors and participants in these fundraising events (to) maintain an understanding of the importance of respecting the indigenous title rights and interests of the Yaegl people on land, sea and waterways when competing ( op) or visit our beautiful Yaegl country.’

The club was told it would have to pay a $500 service charge for each event if the company wanted to conduct the Welcome to Country ceremonies (photo is the Welcome to Country ceremony before the Super Rugby match)

A The standard rate for welcome to land ceremonies ranges from $300 to $750, according to the National Association for the Visual Arts.

A surf club member told the publication that many people were “outraged” by the request.

“It’s quite un-Australian to ask anyone to use the beach, let alone volunteer surf lifesavers who want to compete and raise money for their club,” he said.

Another member added that the surf club was already struggling financially.

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

Mr Walker sThe Yaegl had non-exclusive native title rights to the beach and reaffirmed that the surf club would be free to conduct their activities.

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

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