By GLENDA KICKETT

Chair, Perth NAIDOC 

National NAIDOC Week is a week for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to come together to celebrate and acknowledge our cultures, peoples, and achievements, and to also share with the wider non-Indigenous community our strengths and survival from colonisation.

As Chairperson of NAIDOC Perth, I have been part of the NAIDOC Perth Committee for seventeen years and seen the growth of our events over the years – the NAIDOC Week Perth Opening Ceremony, the NAIDOC Perth Ball, the Miss and Mr NAIDOC Perth Empowerment and Leadership Program, and the NAIDOC Perth Awards. 

I have also seen the growth of NAIDOC events generally across Perth and in local councils and community-based organisations which is very exciting because the wider non-Indigenous community is now walking alongside to share and celebrate NAIDOC Week with us.

Our Committee is very proud of the work we have done as volunteers to bring these events to our community, and to showcase our cultures and peoples through our traditional ceremonies, songs, dance, and arts.  We see the pride in our culture on the faces of our people attending and participating in the events, and this makes us feel Moorditj.   

The National NAIDOC Week theme, ‘Keep the Fire Burning, Blak, Loud and Proud’ encourages us to reflect on the strengths of our cultures and connections with each other and country through our campfires. 

It also considers that despite the impact of colonisation, our cultures, peoples and communities are strong and resilient, and our children are thriving and achieving, and our Elders are continuing to pass down cultural knowledge which is important for all of us, and for the yey – the present, and the boordawah, future and kalykool – forever.