NAIDOC Week 2022 celebrations of culture

After celebrations were rescheduled early in 2022 due to COVID-19, the City of Stirling is proud to support the postponed Mirrabooka NAIDOC Week Cultural Celebration, which will be held today.

NAIDOC Week celebrations are traditionally held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The decision to postpone Mirrabooka’s 2022 event was made earlier this year amid COVID-19 related restrictions.

This free community event offers live music, children's entertainment, information stalls, a sausage sizzle and kangaroo stew.

Mayor Mark Irwin said this year's theme 'Get up! Stand Up! Show up!' was a perfect reflection of the next stage in not only the City’s reconciliation journey, but that of the country.

“The City of Stirling is deeply committed to the reconciliation journey, and welcomes yet another opportunity to celebrate the culture, language and history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our local community,” he said.

“Since we adopted our first Reconciliation Action Plan in 2014, the City of Stirling has continued to take on this challenge, and we are now in the midst of delivering our third ‘Innovate’ RAP. We hope this RAP will be our last ‘Innovate’ level RAP; I want us as individuals, as families, colleagues and communities to get ready to take it to the next level, to ‘Stretch’.

“At least 60,000 years of continuous culture, language and stewardship of this country survives to this day, and it’s wonderful to come together to respect, acknowledge and protect that history and culture.

“The Mirrabooka NAIDOC Cultural Celebration allows us to share reconciliation achievements, and get the community involved in activities such as cultural tours, learning circles and performances, so that we can empower change together.”

This year, live music will be a key element of the celebration, featuring performances by Corroboree For Life, Boorloo Hustle, Kaiwalgal Dance Troupe, Flewnt and Proud Noongar Boys. Proud Noongar Boys are Balga Senior High School students and winners of Triple J Unearthed High Indigenous Initiative 2022. Flewnt is an award-winning, Nyoongar Wongi hip hop artist.

There will also be performances by three 2022 WAM Song of the Year finalists:

• Natasha Eldridge – WAM Song of the Year finalist ‘Act Belong Commit’ category and ‘Outstanding Indigenous’ category
• The Struggling Kings – WAM Song of the Year finalist ‘Blues/Roots’ category and ‘Outstanding Indigenous’ category
• South Summit – WAM Song of the Year finalist ‘Pop’ category and ‘Outstanding Indigenous’ category.

This event is presented by the Mirrabooka NAIDOC Committee and proudly supported by the City of Stirling.