This year’s National NAIDOC Week theme is “For Our Elders”.
Our Elders have played and continue to play a vital role in our families and communities across every generation.
They are cultural knowledge keepers, forerunners, nurturers, activists, educators, survivors, leaders, hard workers, and our loved ones.
Our loved ones who lift us up in our lows and rejoice with us in our highs. Who cooks us a meal to soothe us and keep us in line when we need them?
They guide the generations to come and pave the road for us to follow the paths available to us now. Not simply via generations of lobbying and activism, but also in daily life and how to position oneself in the world.
We rely on their expertise and experience in areas ranging from land management and indigenous understanding to human rights and justice. They have shaped the numerous paths we take in fields such as health, education, the arts, politics, and everything in between.
Our Elders’ struggles help to propel us forwards today. Their struggle is the source of the equality for which we continue to fight. Their determination and strength have ensured our people’s survival.
We must assure, through their impact and learnings, that when it comes to future choice-making for our people, there is nothing about us – without us.
We pay our respects and homage to the Elders we’ve lost as well as those who continue to battle for us across all of our Nations.
How will you commemorate For Our Elders in 2023?
Image: Bobbi Lockyer, a proud Ngarluma, Kariyarra, Nyulnyul and Yawuru artist, born and based on Kariyarra Country in Port Hedland, is the winner of the prestigious National NAIDOC Week Poster Competition for 2023 with her entry, For Our Elders.
HCE proudly shares this poster being awestruck. On behalf of our whole team, we would like to congratulate Bobbi Lockyer for her amazing creation.
Sourced & Referenced from Naidoc.org.au
