2020 NAIDOC Week theme announced: Always Was, Always Will be

The NAIDOC 2020 theme - Always Was, Always Will Be. - recognises that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.

NAIDOC Week 2020 will be held from Sunday 5 July to Sunday 12 July and is an opportunity for all Australians to come together to celebrate the rich history, diverse cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the oldest continuing cultures on the planet.

Always Was, Always Will Be. acknowledges this nation’s story began at the dawn of time and didn’t begin with documented European contact.

NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace and acknowledge the true history of this country – a history which dates back thousands of generations.

The very first footprints on this continent were those belonging to First Nations peoples and we have maintained ongoing spiritual and cultural connections to the land and sea.

All Australians should celebrate has that we have the world’s oldest oral stories and that our First Peoples engraved the world’s first maps, made the earliest paintings of ceremonies, invented unique technologies and built and engineered structures that predate well-known ancient sites such as the Egyptian pyramids or Stonehenge.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, our first navigators, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, astronomers and artists.

It’s about seeing, hearing and learning the 65,000+ year history of this country – a country that was criss-crossed by generations of brilliant Nations.

For further information on the NAIDOC 2020 theme please visit: https://www.naidoc.org.au/get-involved/2020-theme

Media contact: NAIDOC@niaa.gov.au