NAIDOC week in Cunnamulla

NAIDOC week in Cunnamulla

The 23rd – 25th September a lot of people from different cultures come together to celebrate NAIDOC week in Cunnamulla.

NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee. Its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s that sought to raise awareness among the general public about the condition and the treatment of indigenous Australians.

On the NAIDOC celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures you have the opportunity to get to know the contributions of Indigenous Australians in various fields.
The activities of the NAIDOC week take place in the complete nation. This is an opportunity for the community of Cunnamulla to celebrate NAIDOC and show their support for reconciliation.
As we got an invitation to this celebration, we did not hesitate to take this opportunity and see what NAIDOC week is all about.
We asked a lot of people what NAIDOC is and what they think about it.
One of the people was Peter, he is one of the members of the Cunnamulla NAIDOC week and he talked about NAIDOC with real passion. Peter said, that the people nowadays should explore the paths of their ancestors and to appreciate and respect what each one of them did for the Aboriginal community. This is just one way to show the respect and appreciation, but you can really tell, that they have everything in their hearts and souls and will never forget the past. It is very important to the Aboriginal community to raise their children so they can fit in the society. The children are our future. 

We started with a Community March at 9.00 pm from the RSL Corner to the Centenary Park
The people were wearing clothes colored with black, red and yellow and had a flag to represent their tribe
At ten o´clock a lot everybody got to the Centenary Park to watch the baby show. The staff members from the NAIDOC Committee asked us if we wanted to be part of the jury. They really caught us by surprise – so we said yes! So Alex, Nik and Nilo had the chance to be judges for once. We had to choose the best Baby in different categories. Our job was to find the happiest, cheekiest, sleepiest and cutest Baby in the age from 0 - 6, 6 - 8, 8 – 12 and 12 - 24 months.
The winners of the competition became a sash and a toy and of course a huge applause. Alltogether we had 20 winners and the price for the best baby went to Haley G. Her mother Marcia was shocked and happy at the same time. It was the first time ever, that Haley participated in such a competition and she got the first price. That is amazing! I have to admit Haley is a adorable baby.
Later on the traditional games started and a great Barbeque was served. People were laughing, eating, chatting and just enjoying the great atmosphere and the beautiful weather. So the first day of NAIDOC week was ending and everybody is excited about the second one!

The second day of the Naidooc week began on the evening. It was the greatest day for the kids, because of the Awards ceremony for children. Many kids came for visit, they were laughing and dancing the whole evening.

On this day, Nilo and I did the Jury again. This time we both only.  

We had to choose the most beautiful and most sympathetic couple between 3-6 and 7-12. The kids had styled themselves and for them it was such a fun, to get rated by us. Some of them had really good ideas. They tried to impress us with dancing or singing. Really, a few of them were quite good. But unfortunately some seemed to be very shy and didn’t have enough courage. For the winners, there were any awards. The boys get boomerangs and the girls a crown of feathers (to feel like a real princess).
After the awards, we came to the most excited part on this evening: The gig of Sean Choolburra, an international famous Australian comedian, who looks like the young Michael Jackson. He impressed the people with a mix of dancing and gags. It was really amusing and it was fun to listen to him. According to Sean’s gig, Dj scotty from Charlesville started to heat up the people with his music. On the dancefloor the hell was loose! All kids were dancing and I think the parents were very happy of it, because they will sleep very well after the celebration.



On Saturday, the last day of the NAIDOC week, we didn’t get so many sleep because of the breakfast in park at nine o’clock. Typical german, you have to be there some minutes earlier. Maybe this would be the reason, why we were alone for the first half an hour. But the long wait was worthwhile. After a time, more and more people were coming together. For the morning the menu was crocodile. Very interesting for an European. Café and crocodile, a breakfast you have to adapt to. After the breakfast you could do some sports with a session of aerobics and tai chi. It was a really nice morning with a really wonderful sunshine. But we were happy to go back home for relaxing a little bit. On the evening was the highlight for the organization team. Although 5 $ entry, 8 Germans won’t missed the spectacle. The team of organization was awarded. The hall was decorated really nice, by the colors black, red, yellow. In the beginning we saw a presentation about the history and the nice sites of cunnamulla. After that, was the awarding with some emotional speeches.

According to it, Shean began again with this show, but on this day, more for the Adults.

It was real fun to listen to him and the atmosphere was very good. After the first part of the show, I had the chance to taste some meat of kangaroo. It tasted different to other meats, but I don’t like it so much. Also the meat of crocodile. Shean continued his show after the dessert. It was such a great evening, and I think if you have the possibility to take part on such a project like naidoc week, do it! You could take one’s own initiative. I like to see, how the different culture were finding together. They were dancing and laughing – it should be so every day.