NAIDOC Week 8 – 15 Nov 2020

This year’s theme is ‘Always Was, Always Will Be.’

The City of Ballarat community will celebrate our Aboriginal history and the richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures during NAIDOC Week 8 – 15 November.

Ballarat has a diverse and growing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community with members strong and proud in their cultures.
The barlijan (platypus) was chosen by the Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative (BADAC) to represent the diversity of clan groups who now call Ballarat home.

NAIDOC stands for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920’s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Learn more about NAIDOC Week: www.naidoc.org.au

NAIDOC Week 2020 Virtual Program

This year’s NAIDOC activities will be virtual. While NAIDOC is usually celebrated in July, this year’s dates were postponed to November due to COVID-19.

Highlights include City of Ballarat CEO Janet Dore’s NAIDOC message, Ballarat Libraries online storytimes, the Language Café presented by Youth Services and Ballarat Libraries exploring Wadawurrung language and story creation with Traditional Custodian Barry Gilson and also Nikki Foy presenting live for Playgroup Victoria.

For more details please see the program flyer: www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2020-11/NAIDOC%20Week%202020_Program%20Listing.pdf

The City of Ballarat acknowledges the Wadawurrung and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples, the Traditional Custodians of the land we live and work on and pay our respects to their Elders past present and emerging and extend this to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.