NAIDOC Week Celebrations

Activities centred around the documentary film ‘In My Blood It Runs’ will be featured as part of NAIDOC Week activities for Intereach volunteers and staff.

The documentary will provide many learnings for staff and assist them to think about Aboriginal youth, people and communities in different ways.

The community and human services provider will screen the movie for staff on Friday November 6 from 2.30pm, and Monday November 9 from 3.30pm. It will be also available for volunteers and Family Day Care Educators to watch at home.

This year’s theme for NAIDOC Week is ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’, which recognises that Australia’s First Nations People have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years. 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.

The film ‘In My Blood It Runs’ features 10 year-old Dujuan, a Arrernte Garrwa boy, who is a healer, Elder, a good hunter and speaks three languages. As he shares his wisdom of history and the complex world around him, viewers see his spark and intelligence. Yet Dujuan is ‘failing’ in school and facing increasing scrutiny from welfare and the police. As he travels perilously close to incarceration, his family fight to give him a strong Arrernte education alongside his western education before he becomes another statistic. He grapples with these pressures, shares his truths and somewhere in between finds space to dream, imagine and hope for his future self.

After the Intereach screenings of this film, staff will be invited to participate in a 45 minute virtual office event when a video will be screened featuring members of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reference group discussing what identity, family, culture and connection to Country means to them. This session will include a Welcome to Country by Deniliquin local, Danica Reeves.

The NAIDOC Week recognition and celebration at Intereach is part of a commitment to walk alongside local Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander People in its journey towards Reconciliation as outlined in its Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan 2016-2020.