The Importance Of NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC Week runs from July 5 to July 12. Here’s what you need to know about it and how you can help celebrate.

What’s NAIDOC Week?

The first fleet arrived in Australia on January 26, 1788. To commemorate this, they labelled it ‘Australia Day’. However, this occasion only celebrates the history of the European settlers, and not the first Australians, the Aboriginal people.

NAIDOC Week, in the 21st century, is an annual celebration of the Aboriginal people; an opportunity for them to share their history and their stories. For our nation, NAIDOC Week holds significant cultural value, as it educates Australians on the history of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples; generates respect and understanding of culture; and allows us to celebrate the history of the first Australians.

How did it all begin?

NAIDOC stands for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’, adapted from NADOC in 1991 to include Torres Strait Islanders. The committee was formed in Sydney on Australia Day, 1938, when a group of approximately 100 Aboriginal people gathered for the first Day of Mourning, as a protest against the treatment of their people. Today, NAIDOC is a celebration of history and has since been extended from one day to a week.

What makes 2015 such an important year for NAIDOC?

This year, NAIDOC Week is especially relevant as the campaign ‘RECOGNISE’ works to have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples recognised within our Australian constitution, to ensure it protects them from racial discrimination. Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten yesterday hosted a joint summit with 40 notable Indigenous representatives to kick off NAIDOC Week, pledging to support a referendum that would alter the Australian constitution accordingly.

The 2015 theme, “We All Stand On Sacred Ground” is also relevant, as this year marks the 30th anniversary of the ‘handback’ of Uluru to its traditional owners.

How can we celebrate it?

Events are being held all over Australia to celebrate NAIDOC Week, though the host city for the 2015 National Awards Ceremony on July 10 will be Adelaide. These awards recognise achievements by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders, community members, youth, artists, scholars, apprentices, and sportspeople.

To celebrate NAIDOC Week and this year’s theme, you can: invite elders to talk about sacred sites, at your school or workplace; learn the traditional names of places and the stories of your region; and discover how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are working to protect these sites.

You don’t need to be in Adelaide to celebrate indigenous culture. You can find dance and theatre performances in Perth; discussions of architecture in Victoria; free screenings of movies directed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Sydney and Darwin; Aboriginal sand painting at Bondi Beach; and much more.

Remember: the education and celebration doesn't have to stop on July 12.

Sarah Bellis is one of Student Edge’s student contributors. Learn more about the contributors program.