Today begins NAIDOC Week 2020.
The theme for the week is Always Was, Always Will Be.
Always Was, Always Will Be. recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.
They are spiritually and culturally connected to this country.
This country was criss-crossed by generations of brilliant Nations.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, first navigators, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists.
Australia has the world’s oldest oral stories. The First Peoples engraved the world’s first maps, made the earliest paintings of ceremony and invented unique technologies. They built and engineered structures – structures on Earth – predating well-known sites such as the Egyptian Pyramids and Stonehenge.
Their adaptation and intimate knowledge of Country enabled them to endure climate change, catastrophic droughts and rising sea levels.
Always Was, Always Will Be. acknowledges that hundreds of Nations and their cultures covered this continent. All were managing the land – the biggest estate on earth – to sustainably provide for their future.
Through ingenious land management systems like fire stick farming, our First Peoples transformed the harshest habitable continent into a land of bounty.
NAIDOC Week 2020 acknowledges and celebrates that our nation’s story didn’t begin with documented European contact whether in 1770 or 1606 – with the arrival of the Dutch on the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula.
The very first footprints on this continent were those belonging to First Nations peoples.
Our coastal Nations watched and interacted with at least 36 contacts made by Europeans prior to 1770. Many of them resulting in the charting of the northern, western and southern coastlines – of our lands and our waters.
For First Nations peoples, this nation’s story began at the dawn of time.
NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace the true history of this country – a history which dates back thousands of generations.
It’s about seeing, hearing and learning the First Nations’ 65,000+ year history of this country – which is Australian history. NAIDOC Week 2020 aims to encourage all Australians to celebrate that we have the oldest continuing cultures on the planet and to recognise that our sovereignty was never ceded.
Always Was, Always Will Be.
Acknowledgement of Country
The Salesian community, in the spirit of reconciliation, acknowledges that our place of learning is resting on Wurundjeri land. We honour the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation, both past and present for their stewardship and dedication to teaching their culture and traditions. We at Salesian College, strive to build a place that recognises all people and cultures to help create a unified and cohesive nation.
https://www.naidoc.org.au/get-involved/2020-theme
About the 2020 NAIDOC Week Poster
“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.”