National NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July each year. It is an opportunity to celebrate and recognise the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
This year, the National NAIDOC Week theme is For Our Elders.
Across every generation, our Elders have played, and continue to play, an important role and hold a prominent place in Indigenous communities and families. You can learn more about 2023 National NAIDOC Week here.
We've put together a reading guide featuring works that highlight Indigenous history, knowledge, and culture.
Everything You Need to Know about the Voice, by Megan Davis and George Williams
Australians will soon be faced with an important choice. Will they vote Yes to change our nation’s Constitution to introduce an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice? Or will they vote No and bring the recognition process to a halt and, along with it, the aspirations of an overwhelming number of Australia’s first peoples? The stakes could not be higher.
Everything You Need to Know about the Voice, written by coauthor of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Cobble Cobble woman Megan Davis, and fellow constitutional expert George Williams, is essential reading on the Voice to parliament and government, how our Constitution was drafted, what the 1967 referendum achieved, what it left unfinished and the Uluru Statement. It charts the journey of this nation-building reform from the earliest stages of Indigenous advocacy, explores myths and misconceptions and, importantly, explains how the Voice offers change that will benefit the whole nation.
Tiwi Story: Turning history downside up, by Mavis Kerinaiua, Laura Rademaker
‘I believe history is for healing. But you need to tell the whole story, the good and the bad. Telling the truth to the younger ones, the next generation, will make them strong.’ - MAVIS KERINAIUA
The Tiwi people have more than their fair share of stories that turn ideas of Australian history upside down.
The Tiwi claim the honour of defeating a global superpower. When the world’s most powerful navy invaded and attempted to settle the Tiwi Islands in 1824, Tiwi warriors fought the British and won. The Tiwi remember the fight,and oral histories reveal their tactical brilliance.
Later, in 1911, Catholic priest Francis Xavier Gsell decided to ‘purchase’ Tiwi women and ‘free’ them from traditional marriage, so girls would grow up into devoted Catholics.
But Tiwi women had more power in marriage negotiations than missionaries realised. They worked out how to be both Tiwi and Catholic. And it was the missionaries who came around to Tiwi thinking.
Then there are stories of the Tiwi people’s ‘number one religion’: Aussie Rules; Calista Kantilla remembers her time growing up in the mission dormitory; and Teddy Portaminni explains the importance of Tiwi history and culture as something precious, owned by Tiwi and the source of Tiwi strength.
In Tiwi Story, Mavis Kerinaiua, Laura Rademaker and Tiwi historians showcase stories of resilience, creativity and survival.
Everywhen: Australia and the Language of Deep History, edited by Ann McGrath, Laura Rademaker and Jakelin Troy
Everywhen asks how knowledge systems of Aboriginal people can broaden our understanding of the past and of history. Indigenous ways of knowing, narrating, and re-enacting the past in the present blur the distinctions of time, making all history now, with questions of time and language at the heart of Indigenous sovereignty.
Edited by Ann McGrath, Laura Rademaker, and Jakelin Troy, this collection draws attention to every when showing us that history is not as straightforward as some might think.
True Tracks: Respecting Indigenous knowledge and culture by Terri Janke
True Tracks is a groundbreaking work that paves the way for respectful and ethical engagement with Indigenous cultures. Using real-world cases and personal stories, award-winning Meriam/Wuthathi lawyer Dr Terri Janke draws on twenty years of professional experience to inform and inspire people working across many industries – from art and architecture, to film and publishing, dance, science and tourism.
What Indigenous materials and knowledge are you using? How will your project affect and involve Indigenous communities? Are you sharing your profits with those communities?
True Tracks helps answer these questions and many more, and provides invaluable guidelines that enable Indigenous peoples to actively practise, manage and strengthen their cultural life.
If we keep our tracks true, Indigenous culture and knowledge can benefit everyone and empower future generations.
