Today is the first day of the COVID revised NAIDOC week. NAIDOC or the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee is a week where all Australians and those currently in Australia can join together, acknowledge, celebrate and gain greater understanding of all Australia’s First Nation Peoples.

 

Today’s NAIDOC theme this year is “always was, always will be”.

 

I thought that I would share an incredible poem by a talented Yamatji woman, Charmaine Papertalk Green. You can purchase Green and Kinsella’s book, “False Claims of Colonial Thieves” from Magabala books (https://www.magabala.com/). The photo is by Colleen, from Nharla Photography (https://ravencolleen.wixsite.com/nharlaphotography) and the Smoking Ceremony is conducted by Uncle Ivan-Tiwu Copley.

 

This week and every week moving forward, let us embrace the ethos of gudu-guduwa (Badimaya for coming together) in celebration, acknowledgement and greater understanding of our contributions as First Nation people to Australia’s quite often untold history, our continent’s achievements and rich cultures, languages and diversity.

 

Today, I encourage each and every one of you to acknowledge whose country you are on, learn one word of the country that you live on, try or find out about a local bush food (Bruce Pascoe’s Dark Emu is a great place to start) and participate in NAIDOC week in whatever way you can.

 

yurda,

 

Bianca

 

Badimaya woman

living on Peramangk / Kaurna country

N.E Adelaide Hills