Over the years, GIS has extended its contribution to Australia’s cultural landscape, by promoting the work of First Nations performers at Yabun and Klub Koori events; and through its music and audio production studio, and emerging artist programs.

GIS was established in 1993 as an Aboriginal Corporation. Honouring by name the traditional Gadigal custodians of the land in and around the Sydney central business district, where First Contact and settlement had its initial devastating impact on the local Aboriginal people that would later be felt in communities throughout Australia. 

We acknowledge that as First Nations people, we have never ceded our sovereignty. 

Sydney’s first Aboriginal owned and operated radio station starts broadcasting…

In the early 1990’s, founders Cathy Craigie, the late Matthew Cook, and Tim Bishop saw the need for an Aboriginal owned and operated media and arts organisation in response to negative stereotypes portrayed by mainstream media and the limited opportunities for our musicians, artists, performers, and creatives. They were motivated and inspired by the impact of Radio Redfern, which had given Kooris a voice during the 1980s.

Setting up GIS in a rented terrace on Cleveland Street, GIS followed a long tradition of community organisations in medical, legal, children’s and other services that was developed by the Aboriginal community of Redfern, Sydney's Black Capital, and the center of urban activism for First Nations people’s rights.

GIS quickly developed a foundation of volunteer support across Sydney, the largest population of Aboriginal people in Australia. Importantly, strong volunteer support came from the other First Nations communities that call Sydney home, including many Pacific Islands and African peoples.

GIS awarded full-time broadcasting license, hosts the first Yabun Festival, and searches for a permanent home

The road to a permanent home was a long and arduous one. New FM bandwidth licenses for Sydney community radio were not scheduled to be considered until 2001. Through test transmissions as Koori Radio several times a year, GIS was able to build its credentials, and a confident and skilled pool of Aboriginal broadcasters, to qualify for a 50kw full time broadcasting license in May 2001.

In 2002 GIS presented the first Yabun Festival at Waverly Oval in Bondi - moving later to Redfern Park and then onto its present home, in Victoria Park Camperdown, to accommodate swelling crowds. 

During this time Gadigal Information Service was unable to continue in its rented premises and had moved into a share space with other Aboriginal organisations in the former Marrickville Hospital in Sydney’s Inner West.

Return to Redfern

In 2008 GIS was invited to return to Redfern when the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation (ILSC) built a new office block on the site of the original National Black Theatre on Cope Street, Redfern. The state-of-the -art recording and broadcasting studios on the third floor were equipped through government funding. GIS obtained ownership of this top floor from the ILSC on 22 January 2015.

The striking exterior of the building GIS occupies was designed by Adam Hill (Blak Douglas) a Redfern based Indigenous artist. The artwork pays homage to the important history of the site. The design is inspired by the story of Kevin Gilbert and his play, The Cherry Pickers, written while Gilbert was serving time in prison. Gilbert famously scribed it onto toilet paper and smuggled it outside, where it became the first Aboriginal play to be published.

Supporting emerging artists and the local creative community

Our successes have been hard won. We are never complacent in what we do and continue to evolve as a social enterprise focused on media, the arts, and nurturing a new generation of First Nations voices and storytellers. 

Today, GIS is more than a radio station. Our Yabun Festival is Australia’s largest annual one-day celebration of First Nations culture with over 45,000 festival goers and a huge platform to showcase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander talent, that is amplified throughout the year with our Klub Koori events, and musical development via our Kameygal Studio and Young, Blak and Deadly program.

With our hearts full of gratitude, Gadigal Information Service Aboriginal Corporation wishes to thank all the many listeners, festival goers, volunteers and supporters who have helped us along the way.