The 2020 National Aborigines and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week, which celebrates the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia, will be held from Monday 8 to Sunday 15 November.

While NAIDOC Week is traditionally held in July, it was however postponed this year due to the restrictions of the COVID019 pandemic.

The Week encourages all Australians to come together and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and to also acknowledge the cultural and spiritual connection that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have to the land. Australians can get involved in a range of NAIDOC Week activities held across the nation to celebrate and support their local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. 

This year’s NAIDOC theme is “Always Was, Always Will Be” which acknowledges the fact that First Nations people having occupied Australian land for more than 65,000 years.

The 2020 NAIDOC poster was also designed by Noongar and Saibai Islander man Tyrown Waigana and is titled ‘Shape of Land’. The artwork depicts the Dreamtime story of the Rainbow Serpent which forms the shape of Australia and symbolises how it created Australian lands. The use of colour throughout the poster represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s connection to the country.  

You can download your copy of the National NAIDOC Poster here.

More information regarding Collingwood’s Barrawarn Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community program or to download the clubs’ Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) can be found here.