This is our first march back, you know, in two and a half years.
So it's pretty special today to be meeting together again, after you know all those
horrendous lockdowns and COVID and everything. So, you know, today NAIDOC Week will today
started off as a day of protest a day of mourning from Uncle William Cooper.
So, you know, we need to just remember the grassroots of
days like today and how it all began. But today is really about celebration
and coming together. So Stacie, what does
this year's theme mean to you? Oh, that's a big question.
The NAIDOC March is people say NAIDOC Week is like Koori Christmas for us here in Victoria.
And, you know, I'm, I've been the Victorian NAIDOC chairperson for five years now.
And we missed two years, but we did come, you know, strong online 2020 and 2021.
But this year, it's like, yeah, we're back. We're holding up the city.
People are going to be probably a little bit upset but we're back and
yeah it's just a family day, you know. It's about coming together and feeling
that strong community vibe and yeah, just showing up for each other and for ourselves.
My name is Naomi Kennedy-Bamblett, but I'm a very proud Yorta
Yorta, Wiradjuri and Trawlwoolway woman. This year's theme to me, is a call to action
for the wider communities to stand with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
as we fight for systemic change.
We've been doing the getting up, standing up, showing up,
since you know, the beginning of colonisation, into, you know, the formation of NAIDOC.
That's how NAIDOC was born was from our activism and our protesting.
So, to me, the theme is, is a nod to the past and a call to action for the future.
Recognising our history of protest and calling on the wider community to protest with us.
I’m not a first nations person myself but this theme today I feel like we
as allies need to stand up show up and be there for our Indigenous community.
And show our support as white people as non-Indigenous people.
We have a real issue here with destroying sacred land, our Indigenous sacred land and
I think that we need Aboriginal people in parliament, and we need to show our
support and stop destroying sacred land. So I’ve got a beautiful ally here at the
Melbourne march and what does this year’s theme Get Up Stand Up Show Up mean to you?
It literally means what the theme asks us to do, which is show up, which is what I’m doing today.
It’s just a huge turnout, beautiful turnout. Hopefully there’ll be more to come.
So this year’s theme Get Up, Stand up, Show Up, is about the last two years that we've had.
Obviously, you know, in isolation, we haven't been able to get together as mob.
And this year is a call to action to make sure that we're all getting
up and showing our support to one another. But it's also a call to action to you know,
non-Indigenous people too to just show their support, because although this week is about
celebrating our people and our culture, it's also about acknowledging some of the difficulties that
we're still going through today. And the only way we're going to battle some of those obstacles is
if we do it together as one united people. So, but this here, this Get Up, Stand Up,
Show Up. That is great, because in my time. We didn't have that. We had to stand up.
But so this theme is a great one for the younger generations to carry on the fight,
the reason why all of us are here today. This whole NAIDOC to me this past couple of weeks
have been amazing. And it's been so fantastic for community all together and have a good yarn
and it's just wonderful, but unfortunately, today is raining but it doesn't matter. Look at all the
people that have turned up for the march and I'm so looking forward to taking part in this march to
Parliament House, Swanston Street and Fed Square. I’m here with some young deadly legends over here
So guys who’s your mob? Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta.
Gunditjmara, Yorta Yorta, Martimart and Barkindji. I’m Wurundjeri and Yorta Yorta.
Gunditjmara and Yorta Yorta, I’m a Gunditjmara boy
and I’m from Warrnambool. That’s the area that
my tribe comes from. We come from Wurundjeri
And what does this NAIDOC mean to you? The Aboriginal come together in celebration.
Thanks so much have a good NAIDOC. Deadly!
I’m Yorta Yorta, Wurundjeri. Wiradjuri and connections to most of Victoria. Pretty much yeah.
Big mob eh? Yeh big mob.
Perfect and what does this year’s theme mean to you?
Um, to show up for your mob, show up for each other, stand up for our rights.
And hopefully sometime soon, we won't have to worry about having to march for
our rights, and march for fun and march for the joy of loving our culture, loving each other and
yeah, supporting mob. But yeah, that's what this year's theme means to me.
And what does it mean to you bringing the bubba out here?
Oh, it's her first march so didn't get a chance to go last year because of COVID. But
I just love the fact that she's been able to be around mob, being around each other,
and see how much our culture, real culture, the longest culture in the world, means to us and
means to each other. So it's so good to get her involved and get her a part of it. It's amazing.
Yeah, I did at her age. So it's incredible to be able to do it with my daughter now.
Always was, always will, be Aboriginal land. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.
Always was, always will, be Aboriginal land. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal
land. Yorta Yorta, all the way.
What does this year's theme mean to you? This year means another year and we're looked
up in Australia. Give us our land back. We want to back now. Happy NAIDOC everybody, let's go.
Now this theme this year, like Yemurraki said, Get Up, Stand up, Show Up.
We've been doing this. That's how NAIDOC was born, NAIDOC was born from our protest,
from our activism, from us getting up standing up, showing up for ourselves.
Because wider community wasn't doing that for us. So now we're at a time where we're
able to come together. Non-Indigenous people
are listening to us in a real way. And so we're all able to come together
and yarn about the issues that we've been screaming into megaphones for decades about.
Because this is our country together and we're not going to make
any progression unless we have you fellas standing beside us
and behind us as we lead the way with self-determination for our communities.
Be strong, be proud. All these young ones here. Some of them this is their
first march. They haven't experienced this because the COVID or what have you.
So let's all be proud and deadly. And happy NAIDOC Week.
Get Up, Stand up, Show Up!