This NAIDOC Week (3 – 10 July) we’re profiling some of our wonderful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders leaders on the North Coast. NAIDOC Week celebrations are held every year to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.
NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee and its origins can be “traced back to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Australians.”- NAIDOC website.
Meet Linda
Linda is a proud Coodjingburra Woman of the Bundjalung Nation and runs her own business called Goori Yarning, where she supports her people to succeed in education and employment.
When asked about her childhood, Linda shared that she lives in the Tweed Heads area, close to where her ancestors lived.
‘I am lucky to live in the Tweed Heads area, close to where my ancestor lived,’ she said.
‘My early childhood memories are full of good times spent with my Elders listening to stories and learning to fish and get pippies and running, swimming and playing with cousins at Fingal Head.’
Linda still lives and works in the same area, with her business Goori Yarning. When asked what NAIDOC Week means to her, she explained that it was a time of celebration for all.
‘NAIDOC is a time of celebration, to be proud of our resilience and enjoy cultural activities, food and laughter, while remembering those that we have lost and those who have forged pathways for us to follow.’
She also shared that the she hopes to see non-Indigenous Australians participating in NAIDOC week to build cultural understanding.
‘I think it is important to share some of our NAIDOC activities with non-Indigenous Australians in the hope to build cultural understanding and increase individuals’ cultural capabilities.
‘I believe without these it is difficult to move forward.’
Of this year’s theme ‘Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!’ Linda said that it was a call to be proud and continue fighting for equal rights.
‘The theme encourages us to be proud of who we are and to continue the fight for equal rights that our Elders started.’
Find out more about NAIDOC Week or find an event near you here: www.naidoc.org.au.