This year's NAIDOC theme is 'We all Stand on Sacred Ground: Learn, Respect & Celebrate'.
The theme is an opportunity to pay respects to country; honour those who work tirelessly on preserving land, sea and culture and to share the stories of many sites of significance or sacred places with the nation.
As the oldest continuing culture on the planet, the living culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is intrinsically linked with these sacred places. Sacred places can be a geographic feature like a river or lake, a beach, bays, inlets, hills or a mountain ranges or ceremonial grounds, galleries of rock art or engravings or places used for gathering for cultural practices.
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Long before European arrival, these places had traditional names - names that now reflect the timeless relationship between the people and the land. Often sacred places are connected with Dreaming stories or tell of the meaning of an area.
This year’s theme was also chosen specifically to highlight and celebrate the anniversary of the ‘Handback’ of Uluru, one of these sacred sites, to its traditional owners on 26 October 30 years ago.
The National NAIDOC Committee is encouraging all Australians to celebrated the 2015 National NAIDOC theme by inviting elders or others to talk about local sacred sites, learning the Traditional names and stories for places, mountains, rivers etc around your region, discovering what language groups had names for places and sites in your region and finding out about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are working to protect these places.
Watch the 2015 NAIDOC Awards on NITV at 7.30pm on Sunday 19 July (Channel 34 free to air and Channel 144 Foxtel)
How are you celebrating the 2015 National NAIDOC theme? Tell us the Traditional names and stories for places, mountains and rivers around your region.
What language groups had names for places and sites in your region? How are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples working to protect these places? Tell us below.
