General News
22 June, 2023
Celebrating NAIDOC Week
Maryborough’s NAIDOC Week celebration has been hailed a success, with hundreds of community members attending the event at the Maryborough Education Centre yesterday. The second year NAIDOC Week celebrations have taken place at the school...
Maryborough’s NAIDOC Week celebration has been hailed a success, with hundreds of community members attending the event at the Maryborough Education Centre yesterday.
The second year NAIDOC Week celebrations have taken place at the school, Thursday’s event marked the largest in the community’s history with clubs, groups, organisations, schools and residents coming together.
Yesterday’s event is the 12th time a celebration of NAIDOC week has taken place locally, with those attending able to take part in a traditional smoking ceremony, view a performance by Jungle City dance troupe and take part in a number of workshops to learn more about Indigenous culture.
Representatives from the Central Goldfields Shire Council, Maryborough District Health Service, Maryborough Police, Maryborough Fire Brigade, Anglicare and many others were present on the day.
Maryborough Education Centre principal David Sutton said it was an important event to hold locally.
“The event has been held at many venues over the years and it’s great to hold it at school again and involve the school community in these celebrations,” he said.
“We’re very pleased with the turnout we had, attendance was probably the highest it has been which is a credit to the organisers and an acknowledgement of Indigenous culture locally.
“Indigenous art and culture has been on this continent for tens of thousands of years and we have an important role to play in keeping that alive.
“This has been a community-wide event and committees worked really hard and school staff have also worked hard to ensure the day was as successful as it was.”
NAIDOC Week itself runs from July 2 through to July 9 this year and is an opportunity to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The theme of this year’s NAIDOC Week celebrations is ‘For Our Elders’ and recognises the prominent place elders hold in the community.
