LEARN, respect and celebrate.
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That is what indigenous communities plan to do during this year’s NAIDOC Week event.
Yesterday more than 300 people revelled in Aboriginal culture at the Woomera Aboriginal Corportion in Glenroy, feasting on kangaroo and rabbit soup.
The corporation’s community hub co-ordinator, Crystal Egan, said the whole community united and aligned with the NAIDOC Week theme — we all stand on sacred ground.
The theme was created to bring light to the strong spiritual and cultural connection Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have to land and sea.
The Aboriginal culture is the oldest continuing in the world, and rivers, lakes, beaches, hills and mountain ranges are all sacred places within that culture.
This year’s theme is to also give people the opportunity to respect their country and honour people who share indigenous stories or places of significance.
The National NAIDOC Committee encouraged all Australians to embrace the theme and Ms Egan believed her event did just that.
“We had face-painters and art for the kids to do,” she said.
People from all walks of life attended the event including army and police officers and firefighters.
Ms Egan said youngsters were given exposure to the different types of work they did in the community.
The NAIDOC Committee said those wanting to celebrate the theme could invite elders to talk about local sacred sites, learn the traditional names and stories for places, and discover what language groups had names for places in the region.