Posted by RLPA
NAIDOC Week 2021 – Heal Country
This week is NAIDOC Week.
NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia to celebrate the history, culture and the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Each year NAIDOC week centres around a theme, this year that theme is ‘Heal Country’. Organisers of NAIDOC week shared that this year’s theme “calls for stronger measures to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage”.
Organisers have shared that one of the ways we can work toward Healing Country is through the truth being told about our nation’s past enabling us to change the way history is viewed.
Earlier this year, the RLPA established its first-ever Reconciliation Action Plan.
One of the actions in the RAP is for RLPA Working Group members to participate in an external NAIDOC Week event and encourage other staff to do the same.
With the current COVID stay-at-home orders in Sydney, the group were unfortunately unable to attend a physical event. However, the RLPA team instead hosted a virtual screening of the ABC documentary Maralinga Tjarutja this morning.
The documentary tells the story of the Maralinga people, who fought to retain their country after it was dispossessed for the British Nuclear Test Program which took place between 1953 and 1963.
The session provided RLPA staff with a valuable learning opportunity as our organisation seeks to engage in activities that will develop our knowledge of the rich history and cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
If you would like to learn more about NAIDOC Week, read the RLPA’s RAP, or find out how to watch the Maralinga Tjarutja documentary, please follow the links below.
