Celebrating culture and community

For Ruby Winmar, NAIDOC Week means coming together and seeing family and community, being around mob and showcasing culture.

A Shepparton local and a proud Koorie and Nyoongar woman, Ruby says NAIDOC Week is a time to celebrate and showcase culture.

“It’s just rocking up to the events and everyone is happy to be around mob and community and getting together and celebrating our culture,” she said.

“Watching little kids coming to the events, with their parents, and actually taking the time to learn and educate others about what it is like being an Aboriginal person and what we are about, and being able to share our culture, it’s amazing.”

NAIDOC Week is a time for Elders and the next generation to come together and learn about their culture.

“Being able to pass down traditions and sharing culture with not only other people and other cultures, but our own people and the young ones and being able to teach them about the culture and traditions like the smoking ceremony and the didgeridoo playing,” Ruby said.

“For them to see and hear our older generations, our men and our women being so proud to actually perform in front of others, that makes the younger generation look forward to doing that.

“We’re storytellers as Aboriginal people. So our Elders being able to tell those stories to the other generations, it keeps the culture alive by keeping going from one generation to the next.

“The young people that are going to be attending NAIDOC Week events are eventually going to be the ones running it.

“They’re our future leaders and our future Elders.

“And it’s so important that we do continue to just pass on the traditions and our knowledge and the stories that we’ve been told.

“So it’s very positive and it's just deadly to do.”

This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is ‘Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!’ and it runs from Sunday, July 3, to Sunday, July 10 .