.National NAIDOC Week celebrations are being held across Australia this week to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year's theme is 'Fifty Years of Deadly', celebrating more than five decades of NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week runs from the 5th to the 12th of July. The Committee members say the milestone offers a chance to honour those who built the NAIDOC movement, and consider what still needs to change.
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TRANSCRIPT:
This is the sound of the Mudjingaal Yangamba [[MOOH-jing-aal YUNG-im-baah]] Choir, a Nowra-based Aboriginal women's choir singing in Dhurga [[DOOH-ruh-guh]] language.
The piece of music forms part of a performance called 'Echoes of Deadly Harmony: 50 years of song,' held in Wollongong on the south coast of New South Wales, to mark the beginning of NAIDOC Week.
Warrimay woman Nicole Smede [[smeed]] is both a member of the choir, and curator of the concert.
She says through singing in language, she and the other performers celebrate their deep and enduring connection to Culture and Country.
"We are the longest living, or continuous living culture in the world, and that is something to be celebrated, and our language is a part of that. You know, language comes from country, and our old people breathed it to life by listening to country. And when we sing language, something very beautiful and spiritual happens because it comes from really, it, it comes from deep within us."
The performance is one of hundreds of celebrations and events being held across Australia this week to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
NAIDOC Co-Chair and Pitjantjatjara [[pitt-unt-juh-juh]] , Yankunytjatjara [[yun-kun-tjuh-ruh]] and Pertame [[purr-aam]] man Steven Satour ((sat-orr)) says NAIDOC week brings a rich and varied program of events to communities across the country.
"So many communities have such different ways of celebrating and bringing people together, we've got some commonalities, we've got flag raisings and marches and local NAIDOC awards all across the country. But we see people getting really creative eith their ideas on events. Having pets coming together, football carnivals, all different ways of coming together, it's really incredible to see."
Wiradjuri and Gamilaroi [[wih-rud-joo-ree and guh-mill-uh-roy]] woman and NAIDOC Co-Chair Lynette Riley says its an important chance for all Australians to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, culture and history.
"That's what it's about. Let's celebrate the excellence of, of what we've got in this country. Our ingenuity, our work on country, our wonderful male and female elders, people who give their lifetime to creating change."
This year's NAIDOC theme is 'Fifty Years of Deadly.'
The milestone recognises two significant developments five decades ago: In 1974, the NAIDOC committee was composed entirely of Aboriginal members for the first time, and the following year, the event was expanded from a day to a full week, from the first to second Sunday in July.
Ms Riley says while this year's theme celebrates these important moments, the history of NAIDOC stretches back much further.
It began as a protest movement to draw attention to the oppressive laws and multiple injustices imposed on First Nations people.
In 1938, Aboriginal activists held a day of mourning on the same day Australia celebrated 150 years since the First Fleet landed in Australia.
"The way that they celebrated was they actually kidnapped a whole lot of Aboriginal men from out west, forced them to go to Sydney, basically told them that if they didn't join in in the replay of the landing of Captain Cook, that they would have their kids taken away from them and possibly thrown into prison. And when they were brought to Sydney, they were actually kept in the local jail cells. So our Old People were protesting, and that was the first formally recognised protest. People marched to the old Sydney Town Hall, and it was the first recognition of that kind of protest."
The rally became an annual event, and in the 1950s, it was moved to July, becoming a day of celebration as well as protest.
The National Aboriginal Day Observance Committee [[NADOC]] was formally established in 1956, and nearly two decades later, the annual day turned into a full week.
With a growing awareness of the distinct cultural histories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, in the 1990s, NAIDOC was expanded to also recognise Torres Strait Islander people and culture.
Ms Riley says NAIDOC Week continues to provide an opportunity to appreciate the diversity of Australia's Indigenous cultures, and recognise the ongoing fight for change and justice.
"There is very, very little understanding that the societal impacts that Aboriginal people face today of extreme poverty, incarceration, high ill health, etc, etc, is really due to all of those government policies and practices that have a impact on us intergenerationally."
The government's latest report on Closing the Gap targets-- which aim to overcome systemic inequality, and improve the lives of Indigenous Australians-- shows just four of the 19 targets are on track.
Mr Satour says as Australia marks more than 50 years of celebrating NAIDOC week, it's a time to consider new ways to tackle the enduring issues, policies and practices that continue to disadvantage First Nations people in Australia today.
"So having new ways of thinking and new approaches is gonna be really important for the next 50 years, and making sure that, you know, we're not still having these conversations, especially when it comes to things like closing the gap and having, uh, the big disproportionate rates of suicide and people dying young."
He encourages people in communities all across the country to continue their own learning through joining some of the many free, public events this NAIDOC week.
"It's your opportunity to engage with mob, learn from mob, hear from mob, um, about cultural things, all, all things. But also to hear stories of, you know, local champions and local heroes on the incredible work that, you know, is going into health and into climate change and cultural preservation."
Ms Smede says events like the one she has curated in Wollongong offer a welcoming space for all Australians to come together, celebrate and listen.
"NAIDOC Week also provides an opportunity for those that, um, are new to Australia or have English as a second language to learn more about the history of Australia and to really be part of that community and to feel more a part of that beautiful, multicultural community that we have here in Australia."
