NAIDOC week: A celebration of culture and connection
NAIDOC stands for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. April Long from the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence invites all Australians to join in the celebration of culture and connection.
At the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence we create a space for the whole community to celebrate Indigenous Excellence in a fun filled day for the entire family. The NCIE team, executive management and Board looks forward to NAIDOC when over 4,000 people visit the NCIE and connect to the oldest surviving and thriving cultures in the world.
NAIDOC stands for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’, adapted from NADOC in 1991 to be inclusive of our Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters. The committee was formed in Sydney in 1938, when a group of approximately 100 Aboriginal people gathered for the first Day of Mourning, as a protest against the treatment of Aboriginal people.
NAIDOC is a celebration of culture and connection and has since been extended from one day to a whole week! Today he NAIDOC Committee still meets in Redfern 78 years later with local community members and organisations coming together to celebrate Indigenous excellence at the NCIE.
On the 8th July the prams, wheelchairs, razor scooters, Oztag boots and families will come together at the NCIE for the Inner City NAIDOC Family and Sports Day. Families in Redfern and Waterloo have been doing this for over 25 years as they gather to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures as a community.
The NCIE team, Uncle Claude Williams, Hannah Davis and the local NAIDOC Community Committee work hard to ensure there is something for everybody. It is the hard work of local community people that has seen the Inner City NAIDOC Family and Sports Day running in the local area of Redfern for over 25 years.
Highlights for our Elders this year include an Elders luncheon, free massages in the Elders Tent and gifts that our local young people have made in the NCIE School Holiday Program. The jarjums (kids) will be entertained with free rides, a reptile show, boomerang painting, and for the first time youth will have their own youthspace with a Graffiti Wall by Weave Youth Services, Heaps Decent Electronic Music Workshop, Songlines community Art mural, IDX Robotics Workshop, a mechanical surfboard and DJ acts. Sports workshops will be ran by AFL, NRL, Wheelchair basketball and the famous local Oztag competition. We will also have Big Foot Races and some surprise VIPs arriving on the day.
Everybody will enjoy deadly performances by Aunty Marlene Cummins, Uncle Vic Simms, Mi-Kaisha Masella, Brother Black and a talent quest that includes local young artists from around the Inner City. The whole day will be MC’d by Aboriginal comedian Kevin Kropenyeri.
More important than all of that is to me is the fact that for one day the whole community comes together to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and achievements. It is an opportunity to recognise the contributions that Indigenous Australians make to our country and our society. It’s a day where as an Aboriginal woman I can be proud of my families’ resilience, creativity and survival. It’s a day where I can be proud of the next generation of leaders, who will sing, dance and play sport with pride and passion. It’s a day where we as a country can be proud of our rich history and a bright future where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s cultures enrich our whole nation, where our languages, stories and songs are strong. The Inner City NAIDOC Committee and the NCIE invite all Australians to come and join in the celebration on the 8th July at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence.
April Long is an Aboriginal woman from the central coast and mid north coast of New South Wales. April graduated from her Law and Arts degree at the University of New South Wales in 2012 where she was awarded the inaugural Attorney Generals Law Student of the Year. April has presented to the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child and previously edited the Indigenous Law Bulletin. April is passionate about protecting the human rights of Indigenous peoples with a particular focus on Indigenous youth and gender and sexually diverse youth. She was previously the National Manager of the National Indigenous Youth Leadership Academy. In 2013, April was named one of Australia’s top 100 women of influence for her commitment to social change and Indigenous youth leadership. In 2015 April was a finalist for the Telstra Women’s Business Awards. April’s most rewarding work is on the ground in communities with Australia’s young Indigenous people.
April is currently the General Manager of Programs and Partnership at the National Centre of Indigenous Excellence in Redfern Sydney.