NAIDOC Week a celebration

NAIDOC Week gets underway from Sunday, and there’s a range of events and activities to celebrate First Nations Peoples.

This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is For the Elders.

Yorta Yorta woman Aunty Lyn Warren is chair of the Bendigo NAIDOC Committee and has been involved with the movement since it began.

“Our Elders, well they’ve always been the backbone of our people, and it’s really, really beautiful and so important,” she said.

“What’s really important is for the theme to be used in a beautiful way and the knowledge brought down so our young ones get to know what actually happened in the past and so they can learn now, rather than grow up and think ‘what was that all about’?”

As part of the week, a display of portraits of community elders will be projected at Trades Hall on Monday 3 July.

“I think that a lot of people will take away the respect at the Elders because they’ve been our trailblazers for hundreds of years,” Ms Warren said.

“It’s a lot easier nowadays than it was back when they were really struggling, and I think it’s really important for the recognition [of the elders].

“There’s a lot of different activities this year, there’s a lot of things for children. The Welcome Baby to Country, that is so gorgeous. My little great-granddaughter went through that a couple of years ago and it was so beautiful to see.

“I’m just so proud of being in there… to see it grow and grow every year. It’s just going to be a wonderful, wonderful week.”