NAIDOC Week 2022: Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

It’s important to acknowledge the history and honour the culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and there’s no better time to do that than NAIDOC Week. NAIDOC Week is a celebration of the world’s oldest continuous culture, with the many communities across the country coming together to hold activities and events.

Held during the first week of July each year (from Sunday to Sunday), NAIDOC Week is a fantastic way to get to know more about the people whose country you live on. NAIDOC stands for the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee and they started celebrating NAIDOC Week in 1967 when the first NAIDOC poster was made.

The NAIDOC Week poster is a hugely important part of NAIDOC Week, a representation of the theme and celebration of the artistic talent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Each year, NAIDOC holds a poster competition open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists aged 13 and up, with these posters going on to be displayed around the country in cultural institutions such as the National Museum of Australia.

Each NAIDOC Week has a different theme, chosen for what is seen as most important to the communities in that year. The NAIDOC theme for 2022 is Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! which speaks to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s dedication to fighting for systemic change, seeking proper environmental, cultural and heritage protections, working towards treaties, and calling out racism. This year’s theme calls for a genuine commitment towards structural reform and support of equal rights for all.

From the NAIDOC website: Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! with us to amplify our voices and narrow the gap between aspiration and reality, good intent and outcome.

If you don’t know much about the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people protesting, Francis Peters-Little’s 1992 documentary Tent Embassy is a great place to start. Tent Embassy goes into the establishment of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in 1972 by four Aboriginal activists who wanted to protest the Government’s rejection of Aboriginal land rights. Fifty years on, the Tent Embassy still stands opposite the old Parliament House in Canberra and continues to be a hub for activists fighting for issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people today.

NAIDOC Week is kicked off by the NAIDOC Awards Ceremony, which recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across a range of different categories such as artists, scholars, sportspeople, elders and more. If you’re interested in learning more about the achievements and work of community members, take a look at the winners of previous years.

Want to find a NAIDOC event in your local area? You can search for one in your postcode or state on the NAIDOC website.

Optus acknowledges the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the lands on which we live, work, and serve. We celebrate the oldest living culture and its unbroken history of storytelling and communication. We pay our respect to Elders – past, present, and future – and we strive together to embrace an optimistic outlook for our future in harmony, across all of Australia and for all of its people.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this article may contain links to images, names, and voices of deceased persons.