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The Danila Dilba Tackling Indigenous Smoking (TIS) community education and engagement team took part in the Deadly Cup at Richardson Park, Ludmilla, as part of the 2026NAIDOC Week celebrations in Darwin. This smoke- and vape-free event, delivered by the Deadly Vision Centre and partners, brings community together through rugby league, culture, health and wellbeing activities. This year the Deadly Cup attracted more than 2,000 people, with around 200 young people competing across five age divisions.
Danila Dilba Health Services is the event’s main partner. The TIS team coordinated the Deadly Health Expo, which brought together 21 health and wellbeing organisations alongside the Deadly Cup, giving community members an opportunity to connect with services, learn about health and wellbeing, and have conversations with health professionals in a relaxed, community setting.
To encourage people to engage with the different stalls, community members received a card and collected a stamp each time they engaged with a participating organisation. Once they had collected their stamps, they could enter a prize draw.
At the TIS stall, community members could yarn with staff and learn about the health impacts of commercial tobacco and recreational vaping. The team used a range of interactive activities and conversation starters, including the popular “jar of tar”, macular degeneration simulation goggles, and a Health Jeopardy activity featuring smoking-related questions. Having multiple activities gave people different ways to engage with health messages.
The TIS team also distributed Flip the Vape shirts and shared Flip the Vape campaign TVCs on the big screen, extending the visibility of the prevention messages across the day.
Who was the activity designed to reach?
The activity was designed to reach the general community attending the Deadly Cup, including young people and their families.
The TIS team used interactive, visual and conversational approaches to make messages about commercial tobacco and recreational vaping relevant and accessible. The presence of a range of health and wellbeing organisations also provided opportunities for community members to connect with services and explore different aspects of health in one setting.
What was the impact?
A total of 217 people completed their Expo cards and entered the prize draw, demonstrating active engagement with the participating stalls. The completed cards provided a simple measure of community engagement with the Expo.
The event also provided opportunities for community members to engage directly with TIS prevention messages through interactive activities and conversations with TIS staff. The range of approaches gave people different ways to learn about the health impacts of smoking and vaping and encouraged conversations about staying smoke and vape free.
The reach of the Flip the Vape message also extended beyond the event. Community members were seen wearing Flip the Vape shirts at the Darwin NAIDOC march later in the week, as well as in community settings including Casuarina and at bus stops around Darwin. The shirts were also seen at the NIMAs a few weeks later, providing a visible reminder that the messages from the Deadly Cup continued to travel beyond the event itself.
The team identified an opportunity to strengthen evaluation at future community events by building data collection more deliberately into engagement activities. For example, Flip the Vape merchandise such as shirts, hats or Crocs could be used as an incentive for completing a short survey or pledge.
What worked well?
The Deadly Cup gave the Danila Dilba TIS team a culturally safe, community-focused opportunity to connect with more than2,000 people and engage young people and families in conversations about preventing smoking and vaping. The event also demonstrated the value of working collaboratively with other community services and using interactive approaches to reach people with prevention messages.
Key lesson: Working collaboratively with other community services can extend reach and reinforce consistent health messages, while offering a range of interactive activities gives community members different ways to engage.
Next step: Danila Dilba plans to strengthen evaluation at future community events by incorporating simple data collection, such as surveys or pledges, into activities and using Flip the Vape merchandise as an incentive for participation.
