NAIDOC Week

This year’s NAIDOC theme, ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’, recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for more than 65,000 years.

It acknowledges that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists. It celebrates that our nation’s story began millennia before documented European contact. NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace and acknowledge the true history of this country.

Schools play an important role in celebrating NAIDOC Week as it’s a great opportunity to incorporate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content into teaching and learning. At Pacific, we have curriculum resources that embed Indigenous perspectives in the classroom.

The 2020 National NAIDOC Poster, Shape of Land, was designed by Tyrown Waigana, a Noongar and Saibai Islander man. Tyrown’s artwork tells the story of how the Rainbow Serpent came out of the Dreamtime to create this land. It is represented by the snake and it forms the shape of Australia, which symbolises how it created our lands. The colour from the Rainbow Serpent is reflected on to the figure to display our connection to the Rainbow Serpent, thus our connection to country. The overlapping colours on the outside is the Dreamtime. The figure inside the shape of Australia is a representation of Indigenous Australians showing that this country, since the dawn of time, ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’ Aboriginal land.

Click here to download the 2020 National NAIDOC Poster, to help you celebrate NAIDOC Week.

Mrs Sue Zweck, Head of Learning K-5