Vibe Australia was an Aboriginal media, communications, and events management agency founded by Gavin Jones in 1993. Located in

Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city suburb in the eastern suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the Ci ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, they worked with Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders ( ) are the Indigenous Melanesians, Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal peoples of the res ...

people throughout Australia. The organisation was known for hosting

The Deadly Awards The Deadly Awards, formally titled National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Arts and Community Awards and commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ac ...

, as well as running the music and culture radio show ''Deadly Sounds''. It also published the website and magazine ''Deadly Vibe'', and hosted an annual national music and sporting event called The Vibe 3on3 for

Indigenous Australians Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

History

Vibe Australia was founded in 1993 by Gavin Jones at the

Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Cooperative The Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative was founded in 1987 in the Sydney suburb of Redfern, New South Wales. Among the legacies of the Co-operative are the Deadly Awards for achievement in the Indigenous Australian community, which occu ...

Rhoda Roberts Rhoda Ann Roberts (born 1960) is an Australian theatre and arts director, arts executive, television presenter, and actor. She was head of Indigenous programming at the Sydney Opera House from 2012 until 2021, among many other roles. She is a ...

was a producer at Vibe through its entire history. In June 2014, Vibe Australia funding was cut by the

Abbott government The Abbott government was the federal executive government of Australia led by the 28th Prime Minister Tony Abbott. The government was made up of members of the Liberal–National Coalition. The Leader of The Nationals, Warren Truss, served ...

under

Coalition A coalition is formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political, military, or economic spaces. Formation According to ''A G ...

budget measures designed to reallocate funding to Indigenous education programs, despite a recent audit which had been wholly positive. This including cutting the

Deadly Awards The Deadly Awards, formally titled National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Arts and Community Awards and commonly known simply as The Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander a ...

funding back to $1 million, with no funding provided for future years. On 12 July 2014, Jones died at age 47. On 14 July 2014, Vibe Australia announced that all Vibe projects including the Deadly Awards concluded on 30 June 2014. After a story was run on

Triple J Triple J is an Australian government-funded national radio station founded in 1975 as a division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It aims to appeal to young listeners of alternative music, and plays far more Australian conten ...

's Hack program on 15 July 2014, a groundswell of community support for saving the Deadly Awards began. A petition on

Change.org Change.org is a website which allows users to create and sign petitions in an attempt to advance various social causes by raising awareness and influencing decision-makers. The site is a US-based for-profit company and claims to have 551 million ...

attracted over 26,000 signatures"Reinstate the Deadly Awards in memory of Founder Gavin Jones." at Change.org and a

Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...

campaign reached . The website, Deadly Vibe, was updated with the news of the project's termination, but kept as an archive of its activities up to that point.

Productions

The Deadlys

Since 1995, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Entertainment and Community awards, known as the

or simply "The Deadlys", have been held at the

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue Performing arts center, performing arts centre in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive b ...

and broadcast by SBS.

Other productions

Vibe Australia produced a number of other events and media broadcasts, including: *''Deadly Sounds'', a weekly radio program syndicated to over 250 Aboriginal community stations *''Deadly Vibe'', a national magazine and website focusing on health, sport, music and lifestyle. *''In Vibe'', a magazine for Indigenous people in secure rehabilitation care and at risk, hosted by

. *''Move It Mob Style'', a children's television show focusing on health, dance, and lifestyle, broadcast by

NITV National Indigenous Television (NITV) is an Australian free-to-air television channel that broadcasts programming produced and presented largely by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It includes the six-day-a-week ''NITV News Updat ...

*The Vibe 3on3, a national music and sporting event to promote health, well-being, Aboriginal identity, and sportsmanship

Gavin Jones

Gavin Jones was born in 1966 in

Goulburn Goulburn ( ) is a regional city in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, approximately south-west of Sydney and north-east of Canberra. It was proclaimed as Australia's first inland city through letters patent by Queen Victor ...

and grew up there. He started a cadetship at the ''

Goulburn Post The ''Goulburn Evening Penny Post'' was an English-language newspaper published in Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia from 1870 until 1957. At various times the paper was known as ''Goulburn Evening Penny Post, and Southern Counties General ...

'', and then studied communications at the

University of Canberra The University of Canberra (UC) is a public university, public research university with its main campus located in Bruce, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. The campus is from Belconnen Town Centre, and from Canberra's Civic, Australian ...

, graduating in 1989. He worked in journalism across various government departments. In 2008, he launched Vibe TV, which produced the programs ''Living Strong'' and ''Move it Mob Style''. He died on his farm at Goulburn on 12 July 2014, aged 47.

References

External links

* {{Indigenous music of Australia Indigenous Australian musical groups Indigenous Australian musicians Indigenous Australian mass media Defunct organisations serving Indigenous Australians 1993 establishments in Australia 2014 disestablishments in Australia