NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each year to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life. The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.

How to get involved:

Borrow or purchase a book by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander to read. I am about to read Dark Emu by Bruce Pascoe . There is a children’s version of the same book and it comes highly recommended.
Learn the name and history of the Country you are on
Make a purchase from an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander business
Watch a program about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples, such as one of the programs on SBS: 2020 NAIDOC week programming on SBS
Engage with social media content from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander run accounts
Attend NAIDOC events in your area or online

(Source: blakbusiness, Instagram: @blakbusiness, posted 8/11)

Social media accounts to follow:

PODCASTS:

Always Our Stories
The ASH Podcast
Ask The Specialist
Autism Our Way
Black Magic Woman
Curtain The Podcast
Deadly Podcasts
Indigipreneur Podcast
The MSCL.UP Project
Pretty for an Aboriginal
Take it Blak
Wild Black Women

YouTube:

Aretha Brown
Bush Tucker Bunjie
Fallon Gregory
Matt Cama
The Why The Way

(Source: blakbusiness, Instagram: @blakbusiness, posted 10/11)

The theme for NAIDOC week 2020 is ‘Always Was, Always Will Be.’

Always Was, Always Will Be recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, first navigators, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists.

Australia has the world’s oldest oral stories. The First Peoples engraved the world’s first maps, made the earliest paintings of ceremony and invented unique technologies. They built and engineered structures predating well-known sites such as the Egyptian Pyramids and Stonehenge.

Their adaptation and intimate knowledge of Country enabled them to endure climate change, catastrophic droughts and rising sea levels.

Always Was, Always Will Be. acknowledges that hundreds of Nations and cultures covered this continent. All were managing the land - the biggest estate on earth - to sustainably provide for their future.

NAIDOC Week 2020 acknowledges and celebrates that our nation’s story didn’t begin with documented European contact whether in 1770 or 1606 - with the arrival of the Dutch on the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula.

The very first footprints on this continent were those belonging to First Nations peoples. The coastal Nations watched and interacted with at least 36 contacts made by Europeans prior to 1770. Many of them resulted in the charting of the northern, western and southern coastlines.

NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace the true history of this country – a history which dates back thousands of generations.

It’s about seeing, hearing and learning the First Nations’ 65,000+ year history of this country - which is Australian history. We want all Australians to celebrate that we have the oldest continuing cultures on the planet and to recognise that sovereignty was never ceded.

Always Was, Always Will Be.

Linda Walsh

Student Wellbeing - Chaplain and ATSI Coordinator

Below are some online events that may be of interest:

Healing by Cassie Leatham

This precious exhibition of sacred healing art objects explores how ritual and spirituality can protect and nurture Aboriginal communities during challenging times, including during the global pandemic.

Click here for further information.

Spiritual Bonding Between Land and People with Zhou Xiaoping

The artist Zhou Xiaoping has spent the last 30 years travelling to and from remote Arnhem Land communities, getting to know Aboriginal culture first hand and learning from and collaborating with Aboriginal artists such as Jimmy Pike and Johnny Bulunbulun. Zhou Xiaoping has developed his unique approach to art, drawing on his knowledge and inspiration from both Aboriginal art and Chinese art. The cross-cultural influences have become the trademark of his oeuvre and made his art exceptional.

Click here for further information.

NGV Kids at Home: Art Club with Taylah Cole

Developed for primary-aged children, these 45-minute artist-led activities use everyday drawing materials and are designed to stimulate creative thinking. Children are welcome to participate on their own or get the whole family to join in the fun.

Click here for further information.

Demonstrating our School Values

Responsibility