NAIDOC Week 2022

NAIDOC week is almost here! 

Held 3-10 July, NAIDOC Week is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, with people from all walks of life across Australia. 

This year’s theme, “Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!” is a call for us to continue to get up, stand up, and show up for systematic change and keep rallying around our Indigenous communities. 

According to the NAIDOC Week website, “It must be a genuine commitment by all of us to Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! and support and secure institutional, structural, collaborative, and cooperative reforms”. 

The history of NAIDOC week dates back to 1920 when Aboriginal groups boycotted Australia day to protest the status and treatment of Aboriginals. You can learn more about this history, from the 1st protests, through to the Day of Mourning, formation of the National Aborigines Day observance Committee (NADOC), and expansion to include Torres Strait Islander people and culture (NAIDOC) on the NAIDOC history webpage.

Want to know more about the National NAIDOC Committee, who make key decisions about the activities, dates, themes, focus city, and awards? Visit the NAIDOC Committee page where you can read an overview and, by clicking on the Committee Member photos, you can learn more about them and what NAIDOC means to them.

Also available on the NAIDOC Week website are a listing of events (including virtual events), teaching guides, awards, resources, News and FAQs.

Further resources to support teaching about NAIDOC Day

SBS has produced a fantastic Teachers Resource for NAIDOC Day. In this resource you will find:

Discussion questions;

NAIDOC-themed activities;

Plentiful resource links and suggestions;

Clips for classroom viewing;

Quality, robust structures for exploring Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander perspectives year-round.

Great for NAIDOC Day, or any day of the year, First Languages Australia has developed “Gambay", an interactive map, that showcases over 780 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages. Gambay shows where specific languages were spoken, and in some cases provides soundbites of people speaking a particular language.

Australians Together has produced some NAIDOC Week curriculum resources, for years 1-10. Their website also features a video “Living Culture" that features Yellaka, a group that blends ancient traditional and contemporary Aboriginal dance, song, and storytelling. In this video performers share their connection with culture through dance.

Further Reading

• This blog highlights the qualifications held by school library staff in Australia, with results taken from annual Australian school library survey.
• Why are so many schools making the decision to move to an Oliver v5 cloud hosted solution? Read this blog to discover what the benefits are and if this is the right decision for you.
• Are you taking advantage of all the features in Oliver v5 to engage your students? In this blog, we provide a few ideas for you to try. 

Editors note: This blog was originally published in October 2020, updated in June 2022 for freshness, accuracy, and relevancy.