NAIDOC Week is an annual Australian celebration held each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. NAIDOC Week is a great opportunity to get involved in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. We spoke to some of our Indigenous clubCREATE members about how they celebrated NAIDOC Week!
Sharnece
How do you like to celebrate NAIDOC Week?
I like to go to community events as I’m able to see my family including my aunties, uncles, grandfather and cousins. There are games and food at the community events but hanging out with my family is the best bit. I like it as I’m not able to see my family often so it is nice to see them during NAIDOC Week to celebrate together.
How do you connect with your culture?
I do lots of activities to connect with my culture like:
- Being a member of the Yugambeh Indigenous Youth Choir for the last three years and we’ve performed at the Indigenous All Stars, been on Dreamtime Corroboree at Dream World through NITV, sung with Christine Anu and Guy Sebastian and the launch of the Commonwealth Games. The Yugambeh Youth Choir also won the Reconciliation Award in 2016. One of the most important things about the choir is singing in Indigenous Yugambeh language
- I celebrate Anzac Day at the Bora Memorial Rock at Jebbribillum ground at the Gold Coast every year that is dedicated to Indigenous men and women of the of the Gold Coast region who served in Australian war conflicts from 1914 – 1991
- I’ve also sung in the Harvey Bay Community Indigenous Choir performing at nursing homes and community events. The choir is a mixed choir of elders, boys and girls and anyone from the indigenous community can join
- I also go to the Indigenous homework help centre once a week where I do homework with other Indigenous kids
- Went to the Saint Stephens Cathedral to perform with my cousins and family for an Indigenous festival
- Performed at the CREATE Conference in 2015 singing the National Anthem in Yugambeh language
- I’m an Indigenous Young Consultant for CREATE
- I do the Drumley walk every year at Burleigh Heads
Jacob
How do you like to celebrate NAIDOC Week?
I celebrate NAIDOC Week with my whole community by going to NAIDOC festivals. I love that NAIDOC is a celebration of the Indigenous culture and brings Indigenous people all together. At NAIDOC I love to dance and show off our culture to Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. I spend every NAIDOC with my family and it’s really special as we are all together. NAIDOC is there to show that we have that freedom to share and show off our culture, and seeing that our culture still exists.
How do you connect with your culture?
By dancing and singing. I’m a part of an Indigenous choir with my foster sister, and I’m studying at the Aboriginal Centre for Performing Arts. Every Friday at the Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane I do cultural stuff like dancing. Sometimes as a group we go and perform at a stage in the city in Brisbane. I also live at an Aboriginal hostel with Aboriginals only, and its great to connect with other Aboriginals who teach me their language and learn about their different backgrounds.
New Video!
As part of NAIDOC Week, CREATE released a new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Engagement video featuring the voices of Sharnece and Jacob and some other Indigenous Young Consultants as well as some of our CREATE Mates, sharing their experiences with CREATE’s many programs and services.
