The Douglas Shire will mark NAIDOC Week 2020 next week with various activities planned to celebrate the local Indigenous Culture.

Events will kick off with a flag raising ceremony outside Council Administration on Monday 9 November, followed by a Baby Show on Tuesday, Night Markets under the Mossman Raintrees on Wednesday, an Elders Lunch on Thursday, and concluding with decorative vehicles parading through Mossman for a car rally on Friday, November 13.

This year’s NAIDOC theme is ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’, which is about recognising and celebrating that the very first footprints on Australia were those belonging to First Nations peoples.

Mossman NAIDOC Committee member, Kirsty Burchill, said this year is about seeing, hearing, and learning the First Nations’ 65,000+ year history of Australia.

“Locally, our Eastern Kuku Yalanji culture celebrates our beautiful Bubu (country) ‘Madja Maku Njyajil Jalun’, or ‘Where the “Rainforest meets the Sea’, and how enriched and blessed we are in culture and language and how it is kept alive today,” she said.

“We Bama pride ourselves on our deep respect for our ‘Bubu’ and our ‘Kuku’ (Language) things we were taught and were passed down traditionally by our “Kamba Kamba” (Elders.)

“We are a forever learning and forever growing community.”

NAIDOC Week 2020 recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, first navigators, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists.

Always Was, Always Will Be acknowledges that hundreds of Nations and cultures covered this continent.

“We want all Australians to celebrate that we have the oldest continuing cultures on the planet and to recognise that our sovereignty was never ceded,” Ms Burchill said.

Indigenous artwork has also been hung from streetlights in Mossman to celebrate NAIDOC.

Douglas Shire Council said it is proud to support the Mossman NAIDOC committee’s program, with Mayor Michael Kerr, who will address the gathering at the Flag raising Ceremony, saying Council was making real progress on Indigenous recognition.

“By hiring an Indigenous liaison officer, finishing the Indigenous language place signage and involving our Traditional Owners in tourism opportunities, we are taking a big step forward in respecting and acknowledging our local culture,” he said.

“Councillors and almost 200 staff recently attended really insightful cultural awareness training sessions with Jabalbina, which I encourage other organisations to get their staff involved in.

“I would like to see Council be champions for the Kuku Yalanji, Yirrganydji and Djabugay people’s needs, ideas and attitudes moving forward.”

View the full 2020 NAIDOC Week program below.