NAIDOC celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and invite the nation to embrace First Nations’ knowledge and understandings.

The NAIDOC theme for 2021– Heal Country! – calls for stronger measures to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage.

Each year the size and depth of NAIDOC Week celebrations grows at a community, State and national level, offering an opportunity for us to unite and honour our First Nations people, and the oldest continuing cultures on the planet.

At Creating Communities, we work to integrate recognition of culture and deep Indigenous engagement into our processes. Projects like Newman Futures aim to build a diverse and inclusive Newman economy through initiatives nourishing cultural understanding and supporting strength of language, culture and Country. You can find out more about our Newman Futures project here.

To mark NAIDOC Week this year, we have curated some of our favourite resources for better knowing and celebrating Australia’s First Nations cultures.

This map of Indigenous Australia, by AIATSIS, attempts to represent the language, social or nation groups of Aboriginal Australia, and highlights the many distinct groups that have made up Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia for millenia.

Gambay is a map of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages developed by First Languages Australia in collaboration with regional language centres nationally and reflects the names and groupings favoured by community.

The National NAIDOC Committee has a series of resources available to help you celebrate NAIDOC Week, from ways to get involved and sharable NAIDOC logos and banners to a list of NAIDOC Week events and tools to help you host your own celebration.

In some of our favourite news this week, Australia Post has launched new packaging including a dedicated space for Indigenous land names, so Australians across the nation can begin recognising traditional Country on their mail.

NITV has profiled the 16 First Nations athletes heading to the Tokyo Olympics later this month

And finally, here’s a great lineup of local NAIDOC Week celebrations happening all week in Perth.

Happy NAIDOC Week! Celebrations will continue until Sunday, 11 July.