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A U S T R A L I A N E M B A S S Y A N K A R A
MEDIA RELEASE
MEDIA RELEASE
NAIDOC WEEK 6-13 JULY 2008
Celebrating and promoting an understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture
Each July, NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee. The theme of 2008’s NAIDOC Week is “Advance Australia Fair?”. The theme is timely for the Australian Government, which has pledged – as an urgent priority – to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians on life expectancy, child mortality, educational achievement and employment opportunities.
The commitment to close the gap was reaffirmed in Prime Minister Rudd’s historic apology to the Stolen Generations in the Australian Parliament on 13 February 2008. The national apology has both important symoblic value and is a vital healing message for those who suffered, and still suffer, as a result of forcible removal from their families. The Prime Ministers said the apology was an opportunity to begin a new future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility. The apology was greeted with a mixture of joy and relief in the Indigenous community and has given new impetus to the reconciliation process.
NAIDOC week is celebrated not just in the Indigenous community, but also in increasing numbers of government agencies, schools, local councils and workplaces.
Aboriginal people
Aboriginal people are those whose traditional cultures and lands lie on the mainland and most of the islands of Australia. Although all Aboriginal people traditionally share a similar way of life and similar religious beliefs, they belong to separate groups with their own languages, country, legends and ceremonies. There are 250 languages and 700 dialect groups, although at least 50 of the languages are no longer spoken.
Living in very different environments, Aboriginal groups in Australia have different histories and their engravings and paintings have a wide variety of styles and subjects. According to the beliefs of many Aboriginal groups, people have been in Australia since the beginning - the Dreaming. During this period, ancestral spirits came up out of the earth and down from the sky to walk on the land. They shaped its rocks, rivers, mountains, forests and deserts. They also created all the people, animals and plants that were to live in the country and laid down the patterns their lives were to follow. The spirit ancestors gave Aboriginal people their laws, customs and codes of conduct and are the source of the songs, dances, designs and rituals that are the basis of Aboriginal religious expression. Much of Aboriginal art is bound up with the Dreaming stories and the rituals and ceremonies that are performed maintain the links between people and the spirit world.
Torres Strait Islander people
Torres Strait Islanders are ethnically different from Aboriginal people. They come from the islands of the Torres Strait between the north-east tip of Queensland and Papua New Guinea and, while having a distinct culture, have many cultural similarities with the people of Papua New Guinea and the Pacific.
Torres Strait Islanders are a sea-faring people, travelling long distances in search of turtles and dugong and trading with other islands and villages on the Papua New Guinea coast. Torres Strait Islander culture is dominated by dance and music, which belongs to the South Pacific style with its exuberance and predominant use of choral harmony, seed rattles and drumming accompaniment.
Indigenous Australians today
An estimated 410,000 indigenous people live in Australia today, more than 2 per cent of Australia's population. Only one third of indigenous peoples live in rural or remote parts of Australia, with the majority of indigenous people living in cities and towns and other urban areas, in all states and territories of Australia.
Further information on NAIDOC Week can be found on the website: www.naidoc.org.au
Further information on Indigenous issues can be found at: http://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/australia