To celebrate Indigenous culture and community, the City of Armadale held their free NAIDOC week celebratory event on Tuesday in Seville Grove.
Hundreds of community members gathered with their families and friends to experience Indigenous entertainment and food – including kangaroo stew and a kangaroo sausage sizzle – which followed a traditional welcome to country and smoking ceremony.
Emceed by Perth Indigenous personality Fabian Woods, the event also showcased stallholders who sold Aboriginal trinkets and clothing, as well as activities for kids including a petting zoo and inflatable sumo wrestling.
City of Armadale Mayor Ruth Butterfield said she was proud of how the City’s NAIDOC celebrations have grown over the years.
“If you look around here today, there’s so many smiling, happy people sharing and learning about Indigenous culture and being proud of their culture,” she said.
“It’s important people feel proud and acknowledged, and equally important for community cohesion that we have people of non-Aboriginal backgrounds at the event as well.”
Mayor Butterfield said 50 years of NAIDOC celebrations in Australia was a huge milestone to be proud of.
“I’m hoping NAIDOC will be recognised more and more out in the Armadale community, because I don’t think it’s had enough publicity,” she said.
“Our event started out really small and nobody knew what NAIDOC was, and now more people are aware of the event and want to come down and celebrate with us”
“It’s important to hold events like this so people can come out and learn more, and with it being on the school holidays, it was really convenient.”
Aboriginal elder and Human of Armadale Uncle Rod Caton said it was a “privilege” to be celebrated during NAIDOC week in his Armadale community.
“It’s sort of part and parcel which you’ve just got to do. I consider a privilege just to be here,” he said.
“This is the first place I actually purchased a home and this is my community, so I want to get involved in my community. NAIDOC is certainly a part of the Indigenous side of things, so wherever I was, I got involved and this is now my local one.
“I think 50 years of NAIDOC has been great and it’s certainly been most of my life.
“It doesn’t necessarily all involve you, but can be, or you can refer people to services as well so to me, that’s actually been part of the great things around NAIDOC.”
Aboriginal elder Uncle Nigel Wilkes led the smoking ceremony at the event and grew up in Gosnells as the youngest of nine.
He said NAIDOC was a celebration of culture, but also a time for people to take time out of their schedule to relax with others.
“It’s a great opportunity through the holidays to come down and just relax with all the mob and catch up with family and share the love,” he said.
“I’ve been around a bit, and I can see a change in the momentum and shifting the way of thinking about the blackfella’s culture. I can see a change in the culture which is good. I think everybody needs to understand we need to project that and be proud of who we are.
“I can see these little fellas now dancing and being proud and doing the welcome, it just needs now to be put in schools to make sure kids know who they are.”
Uncle Nigel said he would love to see the younger generation take an interest and learn his Indigenous culture.
“Even little white kids can learn about what’s in the bush,” he said.
“Imagine a little white kid saying, ‘look at that Yonga’, that would be fantastic. And even for the little white kid to go home and tell his mum, ‘I saw a Yonga today’, and the mum will ask what it is, and the kid can say it’s a kangaroo in Noongar language.”
NAIDOC week was celebrated in Armadale to coincide with the nation-wide Indigenous celebration.
