NAIDOC Week: Celebrating and preserving Indigenous culture

Jul 4, 2017Groups and Events, Latest News

This NAIDOC Week, North Richmond Community Health is celebrating the culture, history and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

NAIDOC Week runs from 2 July to 9 July this year, with the theme Our Languages Matter. Language plays a vital role in the continuation of Indigenous cultures, through day to day communication, rites, history, story and song. According to the National NAIDOC Committee, hundreds of Indigenous languages were spoken at the time of invasion. Now, only about 120 remain.

Today, many organisations and individuals are working hard to preserve our Indigenous languages. One of those organisations is the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL), which runs programs and provides resources to continue engagement with Indigenous languages. You can make a donation to VACL here.

North Richmond Community Health stands on land belonging to the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation. In 2012, when our building was opened, we were given the honour of an Aboriginal name by Wurundjeri Senior Elder Doreen Garvey-Wandin: Wulempuri-Kertheba, which translates from Woi wurrung language as ‘staying healthy together’. We carry that name as a commitment in our work every day: to work with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in partnership.

We wish everyone a happy NAIDOC Week. We’ll see you at the march.

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