What is NAIDOC week? How start and what does it celebrate?

NAIDOC week is a big celebration for Indigenous people and a highlight on the Blak calendar – it is our Blak Christmas.

While reconciliation week focuses on relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, NAIDOC week is purely to celebrate our culture and achievements.

We get to celebrate who we are and what we have achieved, and we get to support all the deadly Blak businesses.

It’s a time for our community to celebrate being Blak, with local events that are accessible to all, such as Burramatta NAIDOC. Or you can relax at home and enjoy the many films and TV series written or produced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers or staring fabulous Blak talent.

A brief history of NAIDOC

Held in the first week of July, NAIDOC has a long history of activism and celebration.

NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee and it dates back to the 1920s and the fight for better living conditions and rights for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

It continued into the 1930s with the boycotting of Australia Day and the establishment of The Day of Mourning. In 1955 the event was expanded to a week-long celebration held in July.

Over the years the event shifted to become one of celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, culture, and history, our survival and our resistance. With more than 65,000 years of history we need at least