NAIDOC celebrations kick off this week and co-ordinators are championing for inclusiveness at all scheduled events.
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“We want to get more people excited, and on top of that we want to get more people involved – not just from the Aboriginal community but from a wider perspective,” Tamworth Aboriginal Interagency chairman Athol Munro said.
The week-long event recognises Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander cultures and celebrates the contributions of indigenous Australians in various fields.
But Gomeroi Dance Company’s Mark Sutherland said he would love to see the region participate in the festivities as one.
“It’s a community event, all the community is welcome. When looking at events like these it’s about coming together and being able to celebrate all the different aspects that make up the community,” Mr Sutherland said.
“We celebrate and grieve together – that’s seen throughout the year, with Anzac Day and the march, and with Australia Day. We all do it as a community.
“So as an Aboriginal community we encourage everyone to support not just the progress and the strength of the Aboriginal community, but where we are as a community here in Tamworth.”
Tamworth Regional Council cultural development officer Petria Jukes agreed.
“We’re encouraging businesses to be part of the celebrations and to get behind the significance of the week,” she said.
Businesses could get involved simply by displaying an Aboriginal flag or an Australian flag in their windows, Mr Munro said.
“It doesn’t matter which flag it is ... we’re just trying to celebrate as a nation,” he said.
This year’s theme for NAIDOC Week is “We value the vision”, which Mr Sutherland said entailed bringing a wider community together to value the same vision of progress for the future.
Mr Munro, Mr Sutherland and Ms Jukes, along with many other organisations and volunteers, have worked tirelessly to put together a jam-packed week of celebrations for the region, including the special opening of the Living Culture Festival of Workshops exhibition, an elders’ luncheon, the NAIDOC Week debutante ball and Friday’s annual march down Peel St to Bicentennial Park, where a community fun day of festivities will be held.
“We’ll have buses running from the Coledale Community Centre over to Viaduct Park, and then we’ll be marching down Peel St at 10 o’clock, celebrating NAIDOC Week as a community,” Mr Sutherland, who will dance in the march, said.
The community fun day on Friday would kick off with an official flag-raising ceremony hosted by Tamworth deputy mayor Russell Webb and an indigenous elder, with didgeridoo extraordinaire Mark Atkins to provide traditional music, Ms Jukes said.
Then the fun begins.
“Athol has been working really hard to get a diverse program of entertainment, so there’s a DJ, we have the Sapphires from Westdale Public School and hip hop group Paws Up from Trelawney,” she said.
Other fun day activities will include a free barbecue lunch, cupcake decorating, face painting, a jumping castle, rides and hip hop workshops.
The first events today and tomorrow include flag-raising ceremonies and morning teas, with a cultural festival performance in the Ray Walsh House community gallery with Loren Jade Ryan and Buddy Knox tomorrow.
