By the end of yesterday, about a dozen palms in the main business block of Tamworth were wearing winter woollies to bring more colour to the July skyline.

A team of proud Tamworth community workers on Thursday began dressing up the trees with scarves and blankets to lend a new artistic line to the celebrations for NAIDOC Week, which begins tomorrow.

The crocheted pieces and knits are the creations of about eight women from the elders group the HealthWISE local health services group supports.

Chief organiser Sam Ruttley says they also co-opted a few other colleagues, kids and community helpers to the fray.

All but one of the eight elders could knit – but Ms Ruttley says she took it up in a matter of minutes.

“And they taught each other different patterns as well, so it was really a bonding session with extra benefits,” she said.

The knitters used yarns that echo the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s flags, so there are lots of bright reds, sunny yellows and blacks.

The youngest knitter, a seven-year-old, crafted many of the bright pom-poms that also dress the trees.

Tamworth rugby union first-grade fullback Patrick Strong, another organiser of some other NAIDOC events this year, was roped into helping put the winter coats on the palms.