Feeling uncertain how to mark NAIDOC Week?
Read. Listen. Explore. Discover. Learn.
This week is NAIDOC Week - a time to celebrate the histories, cultures and achievements of First Nations people. For many, there is still a feeling of uncertainty around how to respectfully support, celebrate and mark NAIDOC Week. Embracing Indigenous culture and understanding their history isn't just a respectful step we can all take—it's transformative.
Diving into the richness and depth of First Nations culture is not only important, it’s showing that you care - and it’s an experience that can lead to an awakening within your own personal development and everyday life too. It makes sense after all, that the oldest surviving culture on Earth has a lot to teach all of us.
Start with the SBS free online First Nations course
To mark NAIDOC, we have collated a selection of Indigenous resources and links for you to read, listen and explore. To start, we asked Avenue C to share the value they found in completing the First Nations Course available online to all MFA member agency employees, free as part of the SBS Inclusion Training Program.
For businesses and organisations, the First Nations Course is designed to foster a fairer, safer and more respectful environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples - but as Avenue C express in their thoughts below, the insights and tools it provides are applicable to our daily life, whether at work, with friends or at home.
Avenue C have an all-staff commitment to completing the full SBS Inclusion Training Program, but the First Nations module is one that for many is having a profound effect on a personal level as the team experience new learnings and a deeper understanding:
El Giannini, Business Director:
Getting to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture is always a privilege, and even more so after a difficult and disappointing referendum campaign. But being reminded of the strength, resilience, power and deep knowledge that sits within these communities is a motivator to continually push, learn more and be proud of the oldest surviving culture on earth. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Course allows us all to hear from lived experience and understand perspectives not from a generalised perspective, but genuine ones.
Ed Passerotti, Business Director:
“The [ATSI] course has made me realise that if we all don’t have a connection with Country, we can’t have a connection with people. Getting to learn from the course really gave me a deeper appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and the similarities we share.”
Morag Cahill, Media Director:
The ATSI program provided me with much-needed knowledge and understanding of the struggles our First Nations people have endured over the past 200 years. Importantly, I gained a greater understanding of what role I can play in righting the wrongs of years past, in turn creating a kinder, fairer society for Indigenous Australians.
Mel Mullins, Managing Partner and Chief Strategy Officer:
One of Ave C’s values is that ‘we’re good with being ourselves’, but to truly live that value we need to create an environment where any person who interacts with our business, regardless of ethnicity, sexuality, age or gender, feels comfortable to be themselves too. The SBS Inclusion Training was an incredible opportunity for us to hear the lived experience of our own team members and also those beyond our organisation. The First Nations Course was particularly powerful, providing first hand perspectives of the generational trauma that exists within those communities alongside an inspiring fight and hope for an inclusive Australia moving forward. The personal stories had a real impact and has led to positive conversations among our team on how we can support and learn from these communities.
SBS Inclusion Program and other recommended Indigenous Resources. Explore more, discover more, learn more…
Indigenous culture training can leave you wanting to explore and understand more - the realisation that the oldest culture on Earth has so much to teach us today is powerful and consuming. If that is you, here are some suggested resources:
Learn: SBS Inclusion Training Program is available FREE to all MFA member agency employees. You can register at any time to access the First Nations Course, and all other courses on the program, including: Core Inclusion, Culture, Disability, LGBTIQ+, Gender and Age.
Read: From nurse to Indigenous rights icon, Aunty Dulcie Flower earns NAIDOC lifetime achievement award by Christopher Testa, ABC Far North
Read: The Dreaming Path: Indigenous Thinking to Change Your Life by Paul Callaghan, with Uncle Paul Gordon
Read: Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World by Tyson Yunkaporta
Listen: Black Magic Woman podcast series hosted by Mundanara Bayles
Explore: Discover Aboriginal Experiences - explore the experiences available near you, or do your own Google search and discover the Aboriginal cultural history and sites on your doorstep.
Visit: Australian Museum, Sydney, Burra Exhibition is a permanent learning and play space at the Australian Museum, where children can be transported on an immersive journey through the eyes of burra (eel). Free & open daily.