PCYC celebrates NAIDOC week 'For Our Elders'

From Kununurra to Albany, we celebrated NAIDOC Week 2023 with On Country trips, cultural painting, discos, and more. Check out some of our events below!

With a range of activities planned to celebrate NAIDOC, one of the highlights was the On Country fishing trip to Barred Creek, 40km north of Broome, where local Aboriginal man Bart shared his knowledge of country and bush tucker recipes with the children and young people. We were also honoured to have Robert Dann from Kimberley Cultural Adventures Broome teach a group of young men the art of the Didgeridoo at Town Beach. We are grateful to Rio Tinto for supporting NAIDOC week at Broome PCYC.

A group of 19 young people joined Noongar Leader Troy Bennell for a walking tour around Koombana where they learnt Noongar and discovered more about the Noongar culture and way of life, including how during the wet season the Noongar people would move inland and exchange fishing for kangaroo hunting as their main source of food.

Carnarvon PCYC participated in and hosted a range of events including joining the NAIDOC community march from the cultural centre to Town Beach, organising On Country Fishing excursions to Busy Bay with local Aboriginal Elders for 23 young people and running a NAIDOC Family Fun Day with a BBQ and games.

Collie PCYC celebrated with a massive community luncheon with arts and crafts, cultural face painting and a performance from the Wilson Park and Fairview Primary School Choirs who performed two songs in Noongar, Wanjoo (The Welcome Song) and Djinda Djinda Kanangoor (Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star). They also held a movie night featuring the Aboriginal musical comedy Bran Nue Dae and hosted a NAIDOC Blue Light^TM Disco.

Geraldton PCYC hosted a Cultural Cooking and Craft Day. Children created their own rock painting designs and bracelets while families enjoyed Kangaroo stew, curry and Johnny cakes. The team kept the festivities going at their stall at the Department of Justice Network Committee Community Event where they joined other local organisations in putting on a fun, family-friendly event.

Over 500 people, including former AFL player Eddie Betts and his children, attended Kalgoorlie PCYC’s Family Fun Day where children got to participate in a range of activities including face painting, necklace making and photobooth fun.

Kununurra PCYC hosted an Elders and Youth NAIDOC day where 200 community members came to the Youth Hub to spend time together and celebrate NAIDOC week with activities, gift giving, and a performance by a group of amazing young people. Beef stew, chicken stew, ribs, plus ‘roo tail’ and damper from the coals were on the menu followed by cupcakes, scones and rosella jam. A great community day for all!

Our metropolitan centres and staff from Head Office, including CEO Peter Tranter, participated in a collaborative painting workshop facilitated by Yamatji artist Beverley Egan. The painting is based on one of Beverley’s designs and features Aboriginal women sitting on the ground digging for bush potatoes.