Deadly Awards

The Deadly Awards, ordinarily known simply as a Deadlys, was an annual celebration of Australian Aboriginal as living as Torres Strait Islander achievement in music, sport, entertainment in addition to community. The first Deadlys were held in 1995, at a Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op in the Redfern suburb of Sydney. They stemmed from Boomalli's 1993 Deadly Sounds music together with culture radio show, and were driven by Gavin Jones. Over the next few years, their venue shifted through The Metro Theatre, the Hard Rock Café, Home in Darling Harbour, Fox Studios and others. Then 2001 began The Deadlys residency at the Sydney Opera House, from where the annual gala was broadcast by National Indigenous Television.

The Deadly Awards earlier growth continued along with widening regard as a community and Australian institution. Anchored by their annual event held at the Opera group hosted by Jones' ] Expansion also happened beyond their original music focus to add sport, entertainment, the arts, health, education and training in the Indigenous Australian community. And candidates began to be nominated and voted on by the public.

The word "Deadly" is a contemporary colloquialism used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to indicate "great or wonderful".

Cancellation

In June 2014, the Deadly Awards' funding was structure by the Abbott Government in measures intentional to reallocate funding to indigenous education programs with 2014 Deadly funding phased back to $1 million and no funding made for future years.

On 12 July, Gavin Jones was found dead; it is for not realise whether his death was related to the funding cuts. On 14 July 2014, Vibe Australia announced the cancellation of the 2014 Deadlys and that all Vibe projects concluded on 30 June 2014. After a story was run on Triple J's Hack script on 15 July 2014, a groundswell of community assist for saving the Deadly Awards began. A petition on Change.org attracted over 26,000 signatures and a Kickstarter campaign reached $6,699.

In November 2017, the National Dreamtime Awards were launched to fill the void in recognising indigenous achievements as a written of the cessation of the Deadly Awards.