What is NAIDOC Week?
Held every year in July, NAIDOC celebrations acknowledge the culture, history and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Celebrations are held around the nation.
The name stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.
Each year a theme is selected for the week's celebrations. This year's will be “We value the vision: Yirrkala Bark Petitions 1963”, to commemorate a bark petition sent by the people of Yirrkala in Arnhem Land to the government in protest against mining on their land.
Past themes have included honouring elders, remembering the stolen generations and caring for Indigenous children.
A NAIDOC ball is held each year in a different city around Australia, where high achieving Indigenous Australians are awarded for their contribution to the Indigenous community.
Each year a poster competition is held to select the image that will represent the week's celebrations.
How did it get started?
Throughout the twentieth century a number of different events and protests were held with the aim of getting recognition for the rights and culture of Aboriginal people.
By the 1920s Aboriginal activist groups moved from their usual boycott of Australia Day to start protesting for recognition and rights.
On Australia Day, in 1938, protesters marched through Sydney in what was declared the first Day of Mourning. The aim was to draw attention to Indigenous rights.
The event led to an annual “Aborigines Day”, held a week before Australia Day. By the mid-1950s this had shifted to become not just a protest against the status of Indigenous Australians, but a celebration of their culture. In 1956, the National Aborigines Day Observance Committee was formed to run the event.
By 1974, the celebrations were extended to a week, and from 1991 Torres Strait Islanders were included.
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