NAIDOC WEEK 2019

Every year in July, Australians from all walks of life come together for NAIDOC Week to celebrate the rich culture and history of our First Nations peoples with a range of activities, awards, and events. This year's theme is 'Voice. Treaty. Truth.', three key priorities within the united position of Australia's Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The foundations of NAIDOC Week emerge from the Day of Mourning, which was a large-scale civil rights protest of Australia Day in 1938 in Sydney. This became an annual event known as 'Aborigines Day'. It was moved to July in 1955, shifting the focus from protest to a celebration of Aboriginal culture. The National Aborigines Day Observance Committee (NADOC) was formed to oversee the event and later became the more inclusive NAIDOC, the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. The celebration became a week long in 1975, linking Aborigines Day on the first Sunday of July and a day of remembrance for Aboriginal heritage which had been held on the second Sunday. It has been celebrated during the first complete week of July now for over four decades.

This year, NAIDOC Week will be celebrated between 7 - 14 July.

As part of the 'Express Yourself' Winter school holidays program, 1-12 July, Indigenous performer Dion Drummond will visit each of the six Boroondara Libraries to teach children about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture through storytelling, artefacts, song, and dance. The free event is on at Hawthorn Library at 2pm, Tuesday 9 July, registrations essential. To find more information and to register go to www.boroondara.vic.gov.au/libraries.

2019 NAIDOC Week post by Charmaine Mumbulla. Source: www.naidoc.org.au