NAIDOC Week: a powerful symbol and celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s long connection to land and waters.
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NAIDOC - National Aboriginal Islanders Day Observance Committee
NAIDOC Week 2020 – a celebration in the time of COVID.
This year, NAIDOC Week is being celebrated from November 8 to 15 after being postponed because of COVID-19 restrictions.
The theme of this year’s NAIDOC Week, “Always Was, Always Will Be”, is an important acknowledgement that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for thousands of generations - a connection of over 65,000 years.
It is the oldest living and continuing cultures.
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 - structures on Earth - predating well-known sites, such as the Egyptian Pyramids and Stonehenge.
First Nations peoples’ 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.
Through indigenous land management systems like fire stick farming, the harshest habitable continent was transformed into a land of bounty.
NAIDOC Week 2020 acknowledges and celebrates that our nation's story did not 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.
Australia’s coastal Nations watched, or interacted, at least 36 times with Europeans prior to 1770.
Many of these contact experiences resulted in the charting of the northern, western and southern coastlines - of our lands and our waters.
For First Nations peoples, this nation's story began at the dawn of time.
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-plus-year history of this country - which is Australia’s history.
It is an invitation to all Australians to celebrate the fact that we have the oldest continuing cultures on the planet.
This year’s theme also reminds us that sovereignty to this land was never ceded.
There has been no treaty.
The land was taken without recompense or acknowledgement that people occupied on this continent.
We encourage everyone to get involved with the events throughout the week, as there are many local and statewide events happening in a range of online formats.
So “Happy NAIDOC Week” to everyone.
Enjoy the celebrations.
Go online to find out more and take in the remarkable story of our country – the stories of adaptation, resilience, deep knowledge of country and ongoing contributions to our nation.
Take pride in this amazing, unique history that is Australia.
In Shepparton, visit the murals on the wall of GV Water and Eastbank and read the stories.
Drop into the Kaiela Arts Gallery Shop at 137-139 High St and find out how culture is being expressed through art.
In Mooroopna, wander through the digi-glass panels of the War memorial and read about the Aboriginal contribution to the defence of our nation.
● You can pick up your copy of the 2020 NAIDOC poster from a Woolworths store or download your copy from the NAIDOC site, https://www.naidoc.org.au/about/naidoc-week, https://www.naidoc.org.au/ and https://vicnaidoc.com.au/virtual-events-2020
● To explore Museums Victoria’s NAIDOC Week online resources, visit https://museumsvictoria.com.au/naidoc/
● NAIDOC Week teacher resources can be accessed by visiting https://www.naidoc.org.au/resources/teaching-guides and the SBS learn site and https://www.sbs.com.au/learn/resources/celebrate-naidoc-always-was-always-will-be