Canoe Blessing and 10th Birthday Celebrations

Newcastle Outrigger Canoe Club was successful in gaining a $23,500.00 grant from the State government to purchase a new light weight canoe. Our local member, Tim Crakanthorp, presented the cheque at a ceremony where the canoe was blessed by Awabakal with a traditional smoking ceremony.  We named our canoe Onebygamba.

The name of this canoe was chosen to acknowledge NOCC’s link to this ‘island’ location, this waterway, its community and cultural history.

Meaning ‘large mound’ – Onebygamba is believed to be the ‘local’ aboriginal name for the tidal island which is now the suburb of Carrington. The name can be found as a locality name on survey plans of land grants from 1865 onwards (with various spellings).

This spelling is currently used by the City of Newcastle and Hunter Development Corporation in way-finding signage.

The Miromaa Aboriginal Language & Technology Centre at Hamilton provided this additional information.

Awabakal name – Wunibaikaanba

The spelling of the traditional name for Carrington is Wunibaikaanba. This being the place of the mud crabs, Wunibaikaan – with ‘ba’ on the end makes it a place of something. Phonetically, it is pronounced ‘woon-ee-bye-karn-bah’ – remembering that the ‘K’ sound is between a G/K.

Some of our history below:

March 2003 – a decision was made to establish an outrigging club in Newcastle.

April ’07 – Branch of Port Stephen’s OCC established. A canoe from PSOCC stored beside the Heli Services office thanks to the proprietor Steve Bazic. A second canoe was purchased later.

July 20^th ‘09 – After recommendation by PSOCC, a public meeting decided to form a separate outrigging club.

August 17^th ’09 – Newcastle Lake Macquarie OCC was established

November ’12 – name changed to Newcastle OCC.