Event: NAIDOC Week: 3-10 July

March down the main street of town to celebrate Aboriginal history, culture and achievements in the Barkly.

On: Sunday, 3 July 2016

NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Papulu Apparr-Kari Aboriginal Corporation (PAK) will host NAIDOC in Tennant Creek this year, with a line up of events.
Each year, a theme is chosen to reflect the important issues and events for NAIDOC Week and for 2016 the theme is Songlines: The living narrative of our nation.
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the Dreamtime describes a time when the earth, people and animals were created by ancestral spiritual beings. They created the rivers, lakes, plants, land formations and living creatures.
These dreaming tracks, which criss-cross the nation, are sometimes called Songlines as they record the travels of these ancestral spirits who 'sung' the land into life.
Songlines are intricate maps of land, sea and country, and are recorded in traditional songs, stories, dance and art. They carry significant spiritual and cultural connection to knowledge, customs, ceremony and Lore of many Aboriginal nations and Torres Strait Islander language groups.
NAIDOC Week is important to Aboriginal people and indeed to the wider community. It is part of an ongoing reconciliation process celebrated not only in Aboriginal communities, but by Australians from all walks of life.