ABC Listen. Yama, my name's Laura and you're listening to a special episode of Newstime.
Hi Laura. Ninamani.
Ninamani. Hello Laura.
I'm a Whale One storyteller and journalist and Ruby has passed the microphone to me for NAIDOC Week.
Do you know what NAIDOC Week is?
Bringing everyone together and talking.
Yeah, that's a big part of it.
NAIDOC Week is a time to celebrate and recognise the achievements, history and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The theme this year is The Next Generation, Strength, Vision and Legacy.
And on this episode of Newstime, you'll meet some of the next generation of First Nations artists, firefighters, environmentalists and trailblazers.
Are you ready? Let's go.
Story number five. NAIDOC Week is an awesome opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and history and participate in celebrations of the oldest continuing cultures in the world.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have lived on this land for tens of thousands of years, caring for country and sharing stories.
So older people can share it to their younger people and it can go on and on.
So the elders can be remembered.
NAIDOC Week celebrations will be taking place right around the country.
You might even have NAIDOC events at your school or preschool.
One of the first events on the NAIDOC calendar is the unveiling of the official poster.
Each year, the NAIDOC Week poster is chosen by the committee from piles and piles of artworks sent in by First Nations artists from around the country.
Negarabal Gamilaraay artist Jeremy Morgan -Worrall has entered posters into the prestigious competition each year for the last six years, with no luck.
But finally, this year was Jeremy's year.
His artwork, titled Ancestral Lines, is the official poster for NAIDOC Week 2025.
Jeremy's artwork shows five figures, from shortest to tallest, lining up and looking forward. It's very colourful, with wavy lines down their bodies, in the sky and around the moon.
It looks like a star is in it to where the sun and look like oceans in the sunset.
And I can see the people.
And I think that they're growing up to be older.
Jeremy says that the people represent different generations and the sharing of songlines.
He says the artwork shows the connection a person has with their ancestors ancestors and the relationship that happens when you honour their cultural teachings and the life experiences they pass down to you.
It's an emu egg and I bring it to school it's like an egg and I know the story for it now.
It was from when I went in and saw Life.
Talk, have fun and just remember your other elders.
Congratulations Jeremy, love your work.
Story number four. This is a story about a firefighter named Arlene, who's a Gugu Taipan, Gugu Yalanji and Gugu Possum woman.
Arlene joined her local volunteer fire brigade in Tineroo, rural Queensland, about 10 years ago.
But people at the time weren't very kind.
Arlene says that people didn't want them there because they were Indigenous people.
When a group photo was being taken, some people turned their backs to the camera because they didn't want to be in the same photo as Arlene.
No respect. They were being racist because everyone should get respect no matter what they are.
It doesn't matter about the skin colour, you're still black and you're proud.
Arlene didn't let that stop her and kept turning up to help out because she cares about her community and the environment.
She probably didn't give up because she wanted to keep it going on.
If another black people try to do it, they know they can do it because she's just making it go on and on.
She doesn't care what people think.
think she's fulfilling her dreams and she's kind.
Arlene's sister -in -law Kylie has signed up as a volunteer with the fire brigade too.
The number of First Nations people in the crew keeps going up which means there are more opportunities for the traditional owners to share their understanding of the land and how to take care of it.
Maybe how to take care of ourselves when different seasons changes.
Kylie, Arlene and the rest of the firefighting team are working together to incorporate traditional knowledge with new firefighting practices for example they're starting to use cultural burns that's when little fires are started on purpose to help the land grow back better by combining traditional knowledge with new ideas the people of Tinaroo can work together towards their shared goal taking care of the land and keeping people safe so they can bring each other together exactly Exactly.
Story number three.
Gamilaraay and Wiradjuri man Darren McKenney lives near the Sugarloaf Conservation Area which is near Newcastle in New South Wales.
He's lived there for ages and explored the bush plenty of times.
So when Darren spotted something up in a treetop that he'd never seen before, he was shocked.
It was a sleepy grey koala koala which some mob call a gouda.
Joyful, surprised because he never saw a koala there and the koala might be telling him something.
Well seeing one koala made Darren wonder if there were more around.
He spoke to people at the University of Newcastle about what he'd seen but they said they didn't know of any koalas in the area.
Darren decided to get exploring so he He popped a head torch on, packed a bottle of water and headed out into the bush late at night looking for koalas.
In my country, if you see a gola, there will always be another one with them.
If you look near around there, you might find more.
And they spread out in little groups.
Darren says the best way to find koalas is to look for twinkling stars in the treetops.
Koalas' eyes are nice and bright when lit up by a light, like Darren's head torch. And when the koalas blink, their eyes look like twinkling stars.
Stars leading to the koalas.
I think it's cool because it's easier to find koalas.
It's probably bright so he could see where the koalas are.
After years of exploration, some help from the university and some drones too, it turns out that Sugarloaf is home to almost 300 koalas.
A lot more than the one koala that Darren spotted originally.
Knowing where koalas are is really important.
They're an endangered species, so it helps conservationists to take extra care of the areas where koalas live.
Thanks to Darren's local knowledge and hard work, these koalas have a better chance of survival.
Koalas might remember him and take care of him too.
Story number two. Among all the events and celebrations this NAIDOC Week, a group of mini -athletes in Queensland will head along to the first ever NAIDOC Little Athletics school holiday program.
The athletics that I used to do with my friends and it was really fun.
And we did some jogging to warm up and sprinting, long jump, high jump.
Little athletics events are held at parks and sporting grounds around the country every week.
But this NAIDOC Week event is a little different.
The special program will connect culture with sport and help young First Nations people follow their sporting dreams. Athletes will be coached by elite sports people, First Nations athletes at the top of their game.
They'll also enjoy fun activities, a painting workshop and hear from inspiring guest speakers.
The program is being led by Jarawa, Waka Waka and Turrbal woman Larissa Chambers.
Larissa says she wants people to see the connection between Aboriginal cultures and athletic movement.
so they can throw a spear and jumping and stuff.
Throwing a boomerang and catching it.
Yeah, spot on. Larissa says hunting, spearing and chasing are just like athletic events, like running, jumping and throwing.
She says these are things her mob have always done and this event is a way to bring people together from across Queensland.
land to be in it and like um have fun and just have a fun time because it doesn't matter if you lose or win if you keep doing it and don't give up you'll just get better this is the first time the event is being run but hopefully not the last good luck you awesome athletes see you out on the the track and now it's time for wow this story made me go wow because so much people would help a man walk for 25 days one of the important parts of making this country a great place to live for aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples is something called truth telling now that doesn't just mean admitting
when you accidentally spill your drink on the floor.
This sort of truth -telling is about acknowledging the history of this country, so that we can work together to make the future brighter.
It's not always an easy job to do, but it's an important one.
The real stories, not the, like, not the fake stories.
Carrot Mara Gunditjmara traditional owner Travis Lovett is working hard for truth -telling, and for his community.
For the past four years, Travis and other First Nations leaders have been collecting stories from people across the state of Victoria for a commission, sort of like an official investigation into the experiences of First Nations people there since colonisation.
It's called the Yuruk Justice Commission.
Yuruk means truth in Yamba Yamba language.
which everyone could hear what happened when the people wasn't getting treated right.
To support the work of the commission, Travis set out on a walk from his country, Gunditjmara Land, also known as Portland, Victoria.
Over 25 days, he walked 500 kilometres to Narm, Melbourne, to raise awareness about what's happening.
It's called the Walk for Truth.
It's tiring and like broken from walking that long.
But he might be sore, but he still might be happy because he did it.
Travis's walking pathway was designed with the help of elders from nations across the state.
And as he travelled, he spoke with people in different communities about their ideas and experiences.
People were invited to walk alongside Travis.
Travis. Sometimes he was walking with just a few people.
On other parts of the long journey, he was walking with hundreds, even thousands.
I think it's good to walk side by side with people.
There's like a path to walk together.
He was listening the whole way.
Travis hopes that the stories he's heard and the truth -telling he's a part of will make Victoria a fairer place for everyone.
Learn better and better.
And with that, we find ourselves at the end of this week's countdown.
In Whale One, the words for thank you are Gumba Nindu.
And I want to say a big Gumba Nindu to Aunty Beth Wright for her work reawakening the Whale One language and to Waran Widji Arts for their help with Whale One in this episode.
And Gumba Nindu to you too.
Thank you, Laura. Thank you, Laura.
Thank you. Oh, you're very welcome.
And, hey, happy NAIDOC week.
Happy NAIDOC week. Happy NAIDOC week.
Bye, Laura. Knuckin'.
Knuckin'. Knuckin'.
Galai, which means see you later.
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