“It’s time to celebrate our people, our culture and our country,” Taungurung Elder Aunty Jo Honeysett said.
“NAIDOC Week is when we come together as mobs all around Australia to celebrate family, culture and everything else.”
That sense of celebration was palpable as a large crowd gathered to pay respects to one of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth at Goranwarrabul House in Seymour on Wednesday, July 5.
NAIDOC has origins tracing back to the 1920s and was the result of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people seeking to increase awareness of their status and rights in the wider community.
A Welcome to Country was performed by Aunty Jo followed by a Smoking Ceremony before the gathering of over 100 people set off towards Kings Park.
The procession moved quickly along High St, stopping at the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial to lay a wreath to pay respects to Indigenous service people.
The parade turned down Elizabeth St towards Kings Park where community groups and organisations set up stalls in the green shed.
People enjoyed the chance to catch up with family and community members, while paying their respects to First Nations people and their heritage.
This year’s NAIDOC theme is ‘For our Elders’, recognising First Nations Elders and their roles and contributions to community in the past, present and future.
Aunty Jo is an Elder herself.
“Elders are the glue of the family, our job is to teach and to nurture, pass on stories and be there for our youth, that’s what we do,” she said.
There was a distinct sense of hope at this year’s celebration.
There have been some exciting developments in the long road towards Treaty so far in 2023.
Taungurung Land and Waters Council chief executive Matthew Burns has been elected as a member of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria.
The assembly is a democratic and independent body of Traditional Owners of Country and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Victoria, created to work towards Treaty.
“It shows us that people care and people are listening. It wasn’t like that a long time ago, so things have changed in my lifetime,” Aunty Jo said.
“Years ago we never had a voice and now I am very hopeful that we will.
“We’ve come a long way even in five years, it’s been wonderful.”