What's on at MacMasters Beach?

On Saturday 22 June 2024 the MacMasters Beach registration desk will open at 7.15am, and service of our famous free breakfast starts around 7.30am - limited to the first 550. At 8.00am, the First Step Ceremony will start on the Surf Club grounds.

New Beginnings - The First Step

Begin your journey with the Baiame footprint, as our local bagpiper, drummers, and didgeridoo players lead you to ‘The First Step’. Set your intention for the day by connecting to our beautiful lands and the wonderful and diverse community of people around you. Take ‘the first step’ of the walk, relationships, stories, and set your intention for now, as well as for the future. Embrace and respect the collaboration of the old, current and new by stepping into the moment, and build connections to our People and our Lands.

You'll be Welcomed to Darkinjung Country and be entertained by the talented children and youth from K’gari mob, Kincumber Public School and the pre-schoolers from Imagine@MacMasters.

Enjoy local performers from our Central Coast Academy of music. Cleanse your spirit in the Aboriginal Smoking ceremony as you start your journey on the beach. Be sure to take some photos at the various art installations and meander through ‘The First Step’ of MacMasters Beach historic photo exhibition, as well as baiame flags on the sand. Primary and Secondary students are invited to participate in our Treasure Hunt.

The vibrant youth culture of the Central Coast is worth celebrating! So come along and see art and photography exhibitions of works by High School and Primary Schools from the 5 Lands area in the Surf Club.

2024 Program

We look forward to welcoming you to ‘The First Step’ of the 5 Lands Walk at MacMasters. This year we are enthusiastically encouraging everyone to enjoy the start of the 5 lands walk, MacMasters local talent, as well as, take one special piece of the message and share it with another as an active opportunity to truly connect, people to people and people to place.

For one to embed what it means for each individual to play their part, we are requesting all present to listen and hear, to receive the message and then to give the message. Just as in the ripple effect, one small ripple and sharing of a piece of the message extends further than we realise and opens the possibility of connections to all; those that have walked this land before us and those who will walk long after we are gone.

Time Event

7.20am Welcoming our early bird walkers with our signature, FREE breakfast for the first 550 walkers

7.30am Our local BagPiper leading walkers down from Warri Crescent to the beach

7.45am Join us for a RIP awareness and safety display by Macs SLSC

8.00am Performance Stage; MC opening of Ceremony & Welcome to Club from the Vice President of MacMasters SLSC

8.10am Welcome and Acknowledgement of Country by Phil Bligh

8.20am Children and youth performances, Didgeridoo performance, followed by the reading of the message by our new messenger

8.45am K’gari Njun local dance group and didgeridoo performance

8.50am Audience participation and connection to people and place, with body percussion led by Ian Charlton drumming and K’gari Njun group

8.55am Get ready to enjoy our new Treasure Hunt with amazing prizes before being led by our Didgeridoo Player & BagPiper to the Beach

9.00am - 11.30am On the Beach; Message carried by the Messenger Guardian to lead us to the baiame footprint and portal of stories by the children of Terrigal School Care, special message writing by walkers on friendship leaves, Smoking Ceremony & Blessing

9.00am - 11.30am Performances on the Stage; by Central Coast Music Academy

Toilets

• At the intersection of Gerda Road & Marine Parade

• Inside the MacMasters Beach Surf Club

About MacMasters Beach

Macs Beach, as the locals call it, is a small community surrounded by the ocean, Cockrone lagoon and Bouddi National Park. There’s a strong sense of community here so we are pleased to host the start of the 5 Lands Walk, offer a free breakfast and hold the First Step Ceremony.

The MacMasters Beach Surf Lifesaving Club is the hub for the community, with our many community groups using the club as their meeting place. The club is located on land that was an important occupation site and meeting place for the Darkinjung people, so it’s appropriate that it’s the location of the First Step Ceremony and "welcome to country".

The first Europeans to settle here were the Campbells from Scotland, in 1824, but the locality is named after the MacMaster family, also from Scotland, who settled and farmed here in 1855.

Many of the children who live in Macs Beach attend Imagine Pre-school, Kincumber Public School and Kincumber High School, and we are pleased to highlight the talents of the pupils of these schools. They'll present song and dance, along with our talented Tjudibaring AECG, featuring schools from, Copacabana, Avoca, Kincumber, Brisbania, Woodport, Holgate, Chertsey, Erina, Gosford East, and Pretty Beach), as well as Gudjagang Ngara li-dhi (GNL) Aboriginal Corporation.