A new coin commemorating the 50th anniversary of the NAIDOC Committee will enter circulation tomorrow, ahead of the NAIDOC week celebrations in Adelaide. The coin was designed by an Indigenous artist hailing from the Northern Territory, who managed to keep the achievement secret for more than two years.
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00:00I'm here at a ceremony commemorating a coin, a fantastic coin, celebrating the 50th anniversary,
00:0750 years of NAIDOC committee run by all Aboriginal people.
00:11Only 50,000 in circulation and I'm actually joined here by the artist herself, Courtney
00:15Glass.
00:16Courtney, thanks so much for joining us.
00:17Thank you for having me.
00:19Absolute pleasure.
00:20Now tell me the design, this is here behind you, can you run me through some of the aspects
00:25of it?
00:26Yeah, of course.
00:27We've got the 50, not only it's just the currency, but it's also representing the milestone of
00:3150 years of the NAIDOC committee.
00:33We've added elements of the native plants and then we've also got some emu and kangaroo
00:38prints to really hero the connection of our people with the land.
00:44And then we've also, at the middle here, it's a very important part of it where it's got
00:49the 10 people coming together and that's representing the committee.
00:53I really wanted to hero that and make sure we're symbolising the people that are past
00:58and present of the committee and make sure they're significantly in the middle of the
01:03coin as well.
01:04Now how did you get involved in this process of designing the coin?
01:07It must have been an amazing thing to be a part of.
01:09Yeah, yeah, definitely.
01:10So it all started with an expression of interest and then we had to put together a bit of a
01:16concept and yeah, so I got very inspired by the brief and put together a concept and really
01:21wanted to make sure I heroed the NAIDOC committee within the artwork and even in the cover.
01:28So that's, yeah, so it was really cool and I'm so happy to be a part of this celebration
01:34and be the artist behind it.
01:36Amazing.
01:37And what was the feeling when you first found out that you were being selected?
01:39Your design was going in a coin in circulation, immortalised in metal.
01:42It was unreal and I was really, really shocked and I guess it was really amazing to be a
01:48girl from Katherine being selected and yeah, a proud moment for me and also my family.
01:53Amazing.
01:54Now you mentioned you're from Katherine, we're in Adelaide at the moment and you've brought
01:57your family down.
01:58Yes, yes.
01:59How excited is it to have them here?
02:02They mean the world to me so it's really great to have them here and just to be able to celebrate
02:07this moment with them.
02:08Fantastic.
02:09And what does NAIDOC mean to you as a committee, as a celebration?
02:13What does that mean to you?
02:14Yeah, it's a special week.
02:16It's a week that I always celebrate with family and mob, either like I currently live in Sydney
02:22so I like to get involved with the community there or when I'm at home I like to do the
02:28march in Katherine but yeah, it's always a time to come together and be with mob and
02:33also celebrate with my family.
02:35Fantastic.
02:36You can catch Courtney's design on this commemorative coin, it's available on the Royal Australian
02:41Mint's website and they'll be in circulation from tomorrow.