NAIDOC Week
During the second week of the Term 2 holidays, an event took place that is called NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of our First Nations people. We must honour and celebrate our First Nation people. We are working towards a future where we can be equal and where we may peacefully coexist, making contributions to our community side-by-side with everyone in Australia, particularly our First Nations people. Each year NAIDOC Week has a theme and the theme for 2024 is: ‘Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud and Proud!’. At Good Shepherd to celebrate, every class put their hearts into a special project where they chose either the Indigenous Australian or Torres Strait Islander flag to create an artwork which became a whole school display.
In Year 6, we did a few different activities in honour of NAIDOC week. The first activity was about Indigenous Place Names and their origins. Did you know that the cities and places in Australia like Canberra have a meaning behind them? For example, Canberra, the capital of Australia, actually means ‘Meeting Place’. Isn’t that fascinating? It was the home for more than 21 000 native people, the Ngunnawal people, hence the name ‘Meeting Place’. Canberra got their name meaning from the language of the Ngunnawal people.
We have also been researching and creating posters about famous Aboriginal people who have made extraordinary achievements within our communities. One of the popular options people chose to research about was the incredible Aboriginal Runner Cathy Freeman. Cathay Freeman is one of Australia’s best runners. She was also the very first Aboriginal Indigenous Australian to compete in the Olympics, and she won a gold medal! When we saw our buddies that week, we worked together to create posters that demonstrate the theme of NAIDOC week for 2024.
Walk with us in our journey to acknowledge and respect our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders!
Evan and Bradley
6P