Kevin ‘Gavi’ Duncan

Gavi was born in Moree, Gavi is a proud Gomilaroi, Mandandanji and Awaba man and an accomplished musician, vocalist and storyteller, artist and dancer. He is an elder and member of the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council. Gavi has played a key role in liaison between Gosford City Council and local Indigenous people and the non-Indigenous community. In that capacity, Gavi became a founding community member of the 5 Lands Walk and has been a generous contributor to 5 Lands collaborative art projects including the Land Art on the Skillion at Terrigal, notably with American artist, Daniel Dancer, with whom he created a whale totem. With 5 Lands artist, Paul Haggith, he has created murals at the Crowne Plaza Terrigal and Central Coast Leagues Club. Gavi is the Senior Education and Tourism Officer at the Darkinjung Local Aboriginal Land Council, where he started in 2018 in what was then a newly-created position within the Land and People, Culture and Heritage team. He has been working with the team to help expand Darkinjung's involvement in tourism and education for its members and community. He has a strong history in cultural education including at the Bara Barang Aboriginal Corporation and Youth Connections, where he was the Aboriginal Culture and Heritage Advisor. He has also worked at Coorallie High School in Moree where he fought for equal rights in education for Aboriginal people.

He was NSW State Forests Cultural Heritage Officer and is a regular speaker on coastal bush foods, sacred sites and Indigenous Heritage. In 2007 he presented a forum on Indigenous Coastal Perspectives at the NSW Coastal Volunteers Conference sponsored by the Australian Government’s Envirofund, Hunter-Central Rivers Catchment Management Authority, Landcare Australia, Gosford City Council and Wyong Shire Council and others. Gavi has performed at the annual Peats Ridge Festival and each year at the 5 Lands Walk. With local Darkinjung cultural custodians Deborah Swan and Phil Bligh, he established the Boardi Space at Peats Ridge, dedicated to the showcasing of emerging Indigenous artists of all ages. He also performed didge and sang an ancient Aboriginal song to close the Clean Energy for Eternity event at Manly in December 2008, hosted by Wendy Harmer. He worked as a designer with the Aboriginal and Islander Dance Company in Sydney for about 9 years and also danced with that company and in the early days of the Bangarra Dance Company. He has performed didgeridoo and vocals with national and international artists, including Sydney Symphony Orchestra. His life-sized portrait of Pemulwuy (one of the most famous Aboriginal warriors of the East Coast) was commissioned for the Pathfinders 6-storey high mural in New York on a building on the Hudson River. He has also painted a set for David Bowie film clip and has worked as an artist with the Aboriginal artists co-op Yurindali in Moree and the Sydney co-op Boomali. He is also a renowned in emu egg carving and his works have been acquired by Sydney Powerhouse Museum.