FROM barbecue get-togethers to flag-raising ceremonies, indigenous culture and achievements are being celebrated all week.
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As part of NAIDOC Week, Aboriginal organisations are holding a range of activities and events to bring people together to mark the occasion.
NAIDOC stands for the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee — the group that was once responsible for organising the nationwide week of events. The name has stuck and has come to represent a week which aims to have “Australians from all walks of life (celebrate) the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”, according to the NAIDOC website.
The celebrations kicked off in Warrnambool with a breakfast and flag-raising ceremony at Gunditjmara Co-op, which was followed yesterday by “Elders Day”, a lunch and screening of the acclaimed indigenous musical Bran Nue Dae in Port Fairy. NAIDOC Week continues at Warrnambool Community Health with a photographic display recognising the Aboriginal men and women who served and defended Australia. There will also be musical performances.
In Portland, a march will begin from the DWECH Medical Clinic and culminate with a family day.
Gunditjmara Co-op home and community care worker Brett Clarke said such events were important. “NAIDOC Week is about the remembrance of the old ancestors and the elders and how they laid the way for us,” Mr Clarke said.
