#NAIDOCWeek celebrations are held to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and to participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on Earth.

This year, NAIDOC week runs from the 3rd to the 10th of July, and the theme is “Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!” – celebrating the proud history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities getting up, standing up, and showing up – from the Frontier Wars and earliest resistance fighters to the communities fighting for change today.

It is a call to seek genuine commitment by all to Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! and support and secure institutional, structure, collaborative and cooperative reforms, such as seeking proper environmental, cultural and heritage protections, Constitutional change, a comprehensive process of truth-telling, working towards treaties, or calling out racism.

“We need to move beyond just acknowledgement, good intentions, empty words and promises, and hollow commitments. Enough is enough. The relationship between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non‑Indigenous Australians needs to be based on justice, equity, and the proper recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ rights.”

ALBANY PRIDE proudly commemorates and celebrates NAIDOC Week, and takes the opportunity to reinforce our organisations’ commitment to the recognition and rights to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities on the lands that we call Australia.

We want to pay a special acknowledgement of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and to the organisations that represent and provide much needed assistance to them and the unique challenges they face.

We acknowledge the Menang People of the Noongar Nation, the traditional owners and custodians on the boodja (land) on which we work, and pay respect to Elders past, present, and emerging across this great nation.

We’d also like to give our hearty congratulations to the winners of the LGBTQIA+ NAIDOC Awards 2022, and give our sincere thanks to First Peoples Rainbow Mob WA for their wonderful work, and their support and assistance with us here at Albany Pride.

🖤💛❤️🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

To find out more about NAIDOC week, and the importance of this year’s theme, please visit https://www.naidoc.org.au/.