Council to celebrate NAIDOC Week with special event
12 November 2020
It’s NAIDOC Week and Ipswich City Council has a very special event planned to celebrate our city’s rich indigenous history next month.
This year’s NAIDOC event has been impacted, like most across the country, by COVID-19, with national acknowledgement of the week, originally scheduled for July, pushed back to this week, 8-15 November.
The Ipswich NAIDOC event will be held on Thursday 3 December, from 2-6pm, at the Briggs Road Sports Centre after receiving sign-off for the event’s COVID-safe plan by Queensland Health.
Mayor Teresa Harding described it as a special time for the community.
”NAIDOC Week is extremely significant for the people of Ipswich. We join together to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she said.
Mayor Harding said in 2020 the theme of NAIDOC Week is #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe.
“This theme recognises and celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples past and present, as well future opportunities,” she said.
“The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up 4.4 per cent of our local Ipswich community and we are proud to employ a diverse workforce here at council which reflects the community that we serve.”
You can find out more about what council hosts during the year here.
Council’s Indigenous Australian Community Development Officer Derek Kinchela is leading the coordination of the event, in partnership with Kambu Health, and supported by the wider Community Development team. Tina Langford, council’s Native Title and Cultural Heritage Officer, has also been consulted regarding this year’s event.
Ipswich NAIDOC celebrates, share and embrace Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
NAIDOC events provide the opportunity for intergenerational change and provides an opportunity for the wider Australian community to be part of this change.
Ipswich City Council coordinates this event which encourages greater community participation and is seen as an event that is open to the whole community and is not exclusive to anyone clan, language or community service provider.
The Ipswich NAIDOC event has contributed to many changes over the years including the breakdown of lateral violence between family groups, increased community participation and has provided opportunity for many services to interact and provide support to attendee’s and their families.
In previous years there have been up 80 stallholders attend include arts, crafts and information stalls covering:
* Health outcomes (healthy eating, health checks, physical activity, mental health support, drug and alcohol information)
* Employment and training opportunities
* Disability services (NDIS and other services)
* Safety (QPS)
The COVID-safe plan will restrict numbers at the event this year.