While first nations communities around the country are busy preparing for NAIDOC week in July the top end of Australia kicked off celebrations today.
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00:00I'm here at the kicking off of NAIDOC Week Celebrations in Broome, which has kicked off
00:08today with a reconciliation walk through the town.
00:12The week is about celebrating First Nations culture and histories and resilience.
00:17But standing right next to me here, I've got Cherie Sivisato.
00:20She's a community leader.
00:22She's a Ngina and Bardi woman.
00:24Cherie, what does this week mean to you?
00:28It means so much, Roseanne.
00:30Thank you for asking the question.
00:32If you think about Keep the Fire Burning, Black, Loud and Proud, it's such a significant
00:39theme coming off the back of the referendum.
00:43And if you see the strength in numbers and what that means is Aboriginal people and Torres
00:47Strait Islander people still asserting that we're here and our voices will still be elevated
00:53and we'll do the work to do that.
00:56Up here in the Kimberley, events like this, there's such a huge turnout.
01:01What kind of message do you want to send to the community here and across Australia when
01:04you hold these sorts of events in these weeks?
01:07The message we want to send out is that we're still strong.
01:10We're not going anywhere.
01:11What we are wanting to do is invite more people to be on this journey with us.
01:15This is about equality and justice.
01:18This is something that needs to happen.
01:20And we're hoping that people get the message and feel connected to that message.
01:26If this is anything to go by, this Reconciliation March is about that.
01:30This is long overdue for us to come together as a country and how we do that is one.
01:35It's going to be a busy week ahead.
01:38There's a number of celebrations.
01:39Is there anything in particular you're looking forward to?
01:42Oh look, I can't choose any one.
01:44They're all amazing events.
01:46I want to congratulate our NAIDOC Working Group for continuing to do an amazing job
01:50with this, making sure that our children are involved in the NAIDOC Reconciliation March.
01:56And I'm encouraging every community member to get out and be a part of it.
02:00So as I mentioned, there will be a number of other events throughout the week up here in Broome.
02:04There's story time for the little ones.
02:07There's also events where elders will sit together and celebrate traditions.
02:12And there'll be a big cook-up at the end of the week.
02:14And then of course, as it is across the country, it will also end with an awards night.
02:18Now here in Broome, the events of course do kick off early, well ahead of the rest of the country.
02:26So things will certainly be occurring over the next two weeks.