This week is NAIDOC week - this year's theme is Heal Country.
The following words come from the official website- as a non-indigenous person, I aim to amplify and hero indigenous voices wherever possible.
We're also looking forward to hearing from @Saltwaterdreamtime later this week, and any other indigenous folk who want to join in - this is your space.
So- the following words are from the Naidoc Week webpage:
NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July 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 to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
This year's theme is Heal Country: and how you decide to make that come to life is up to you.
This page has some great ideas for holding a NAIDOC week event, whether you're indigenous or non- indigenous
There's also some amazing free webinars that you can check out here:
5 July 6:00-7:30 pm | Custodians of Country
6 July 6:00-7:30 pm | Healing our Waterways
7 July, 6:00-7:30 pm | Healing our Lands
9 July, 6:00-7:30 pm | Pursuing Global Justice
And I've been loving reading more about the history and culture of my local area - I love hiking, and where I live has a rich indigenous history, which I'm loving being able to learn more about. I found this video about Northern Sydney here, there's so much to learn about the history of your local area, wherever you are in Australia.
If this resonates with you, it could be a great way to celebrate NAIDOC in lockdown - especially if you can head to an uncrowded area near you 🙂
Your local council can be a cool place to start, most of them will have heaps of free info about the history and culture of the land where you live- I have been lucky enough to see a lot of middens, rock carvings, and sacred sites on bushwalks less than 15 minutes from where I live.
Some pages I find super informative are Blak Business, the NAIDOC page, and if you like a spot of retail therapy, this is a list of brands you can buy from to support indigenous artists and indigenous owned and run businesses.
Clothing The Gaps have some great clothes, stickers, bags- and I really like how they suggest what stuff is good for allies - I know that I've sometimes wondered that, and I've picked up some great facemasks from these guys
Another thing I saw today that I thought was cool was a weather report using the traditional names for the capital cities:
How will you celebrate NAIDOC week? We'd love to hear from you in the comments, and please share any links, music, resources too!
