New Materialisms SIG: PlayTank Collective

For this session, we were delighted to have incredible minds behind the Melbourne-based PlayTank Collective – Alicia Flynn, Sarah Healy and Allie Edwards present a session entitled: Lessons from the Play Tank: Adventures in playful scholarship.

New Materialism SIG: The PlayTank Collective. Bicycles Create Change.com 30th July 2020.

Abstract

In this session, we will discuss a workshop that was created to enact NM theories and provide a playful and collaborative space to re-think, re-imagine, re-( ) research for participants at the AARE 2019 conference. Working between the disciplines of art education and design, we embraced the opportunity to create this workshop in a way that attended to the joys and curiosities that we experienced while working/playing together in a material way. This collaboration was intentionally responsive and response-able, allowing us to experience a different way of being academics together, and enabling us to create a workshop that offered the same opportunity for those joining us in our session.

We will share some of the insights from our process of creating the workshop, some highlights and images from the workshop, and pose the question we now have:

What does this workshop make possible, both for us as researchers and for the people who participated in it?

Is this a method that allows people to practice more affirmative and ethical ways of working/playing/being together?

Twitter: @PlayTankCo

Alicia Flynn @LeishFly

Sarah Healy- @eduTH1NK

Alli Edwards – @allinote

Session highlights

Sarah and Alli (and Alicia) not only presented, but also took us on an engaging 2-hour journey through their ideas, inspirations, readings, discussions and no less than two 100s (Stewart, 2010) writing activities (see image) and left us with the enticing thought:

What does this experience make possible, both for us as researchers and for the people who participated in it?

Part of the framing for this session was this incredible piece that Alicia read out:

“Imagine a pattern. This pattern is stable, but not fixed. Think of it in as many dimensions as you like – but it has more than three. This pattern has many threads of many colours, and every thread is connected to, and has a relationship with, all the others. The individual threads are every shape of life. Some – like human, kangaroo, paperbark – are known to Western science as “alive”; others, like rock, would be called “non-living”, but rock is there, just the same. Human is there, too, though it is neither the most nor the least important thread – it is one among many, equal with the others. The pattern made the whole is in each thread, and all the threads together make the whole. Stand close to the pattern and you can focus on a single thread ; stand a little further back and you can see how that thread connects to others; stand further back still and you can see it all – and it is only once you see it all that you recognise the pattern of the whole in every individual thread. The whole is more than the sum of its parts, and the whole is in all its parts. This is the pattern that the Ancestors made. It is life, creation, spirit, and it exists in Country” (Kwaymullina, 2005, p. 12).

*Kwaymullina, A. (2005). Seeing the light: Aboriginal law, learning and sustainable living in country. Indigenous Law Bulletin, 6(11), 12-15

For this meeting we had 2 readings:

Braidotti, R. (2009). On putting the active back into activism. New Formations, (68), 42. doi:10.3898/NEWF.68.03.200

Stewart, K. (2010). Worlding refrains. In M. Gregg & G. J. Seigworth (Eds.), The affect theory reader (pp. 337 -353). Durham [N.C.]: Duke University Press.

Stewart (2010) Worlding refrains Download

Minor Design Activism(un highlighted)Download

Session note: A great question from last meeting that emerged out of the readings was: What is ‘the second corporeal turn in social theory’ referred to in Taylor and Ivinson (2013, p 666)? This question stemmed from this quote here: “Such moves reinforce earlier feminist theories (Butler 1990; Grosz 1994), and speak back to the second corporeal turn in social theory (e.g. Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992; Foucault 1979; Merleau-Ponty 1962, 1968; Shilling 2008) and within education (Evans, Rich, and Davies 2009; James 2000; Prout 2000; Walkerdine 2009). We indend to discuss this further!

09/05/202016/07/2020

Health Hack 2020 announced

Health Hack is an annual Brisbane-based hackathon that solves problems for medical research and healthcare professionals with technology and design.

Regular readers of this blog know that last year I submitted a problem (Problem Owner) called Bio Map for Heath Hack 2019 – and we had a blast!

Health Hack 2020 has been released and here are the details so far. Expect a few more posts about Heath Hack as we get closer to kick-off.

And yes, that is me on the YouTube promo video cover shot below. And yes, I am wearing a ‘WOW – women on wheels’ T-shirt – spreading the biking love!

HealthHack is a product-building event.

Teams work on problems that have been submitted by Problem Owners – typically medical
researchers, medical organisations, hospitals or government— but they could come from anyone who has a health-related problem they want to solve.

Find more at the HealthHack website.

Everything made at HealthHack is open source and made available for anyone else to use. You can find every project from every HealthHack at our GitHub.

Normally the event is run in person but due to COVID-19 it is running entirely remote this year. The exact plans for this year will be confirmed, but here are the basic so far:

Run out of (sponsor) IBM’s Cloudtheater virtual event space
Run across two weekends (but not during the week in between)
Organisers will still be assisting problem owners and teams to form so there’s no need to have formed a team prior to HealthHack
Same basic format as previous HealthHacks will be kept, but there will be tweaks to allow for the changed circumstances
Organisers will still be available to help teams work together just like every other HealthHack to date

Now more than ever it’s important to support the work of healthcare professionals both in front line services and in medical research and the event is committed to supporting problem owners and hackers solve important problems.

Health Hack 2020 schedule (so far)

July 24th, Friday

5:30pm Registration &Network
6:00pm Problem Owner Pitch Presentations
7:00pm Networking and Team Formation
8:00pm to 9:00pm Hacking

July 25th, Saturday

8:00am to 9:00pm Hackathon (check-ins, fun & games TBA)

July 26th, Sunday

8:00am to 9:00pm Hackathon (check-ins, fun & games TBA)

August 1st, Saturday

8:00am to 9:00pm Hackathon (check ins, fun & games TBA)

August 2nd, Sunday

8:00am to 2:00pm Hackathon (check-ins, fun & games TBA)
2:00pm Hack ends. Prepare for final presentations
4:00pm Final Presentations & Judging
6:00pm to 9:00pm Networking
9:00pm Venue Closes

Health Hack 2020 announced. Bicycles Create Change.com 9th May 2020.

Images, video and content courtesy of Health Hack 2020

20/04/202003/07/2020

Australian riders – give your ideas to a COVID-19 end of (bicycle) trip survey

Bicycle Network is Australia’s biggest bike riding organization that has nearly 50, 000 members nationwide. One of the things I really appreciate about Bicycle Network is that they often undertake surveys in order to see how members and local riders feel about certain key issues. Previously this blog has shared Bicycle Network’s survey on how people feel about Australian helmet laws as well as the results of that survey and some of the flow on critiques and counterarguments the survey results stimulated. Their latest survey gauging how bike riders how they use end of trip facilities at work and if that might change because of COVID-19.

This post is an invitation for Aussie riders to contribute their ideas to help Bicycle Network create a set of guidelines for workplaces so end of trip facilities remain open and people can ride their bike to work- if you are interested – read on!

Does your workplace have somewhere to store your bike and wash up after your commute? Do you wish it did? Let us know what you do when you get to work and how that might change when lockdown eases.

End of trip facilities—areas with bike parking, showers, change rooms and lockers—are a vital part of workplaces that enable people to ride a bike instead of driving or taking the train.

And it is likely end of trip facilities will become more important. New bike lanes are being installed in Australian cities and public transport is running at reduced capacity, encouraging more people ride to work.

Click here for the survey

However, end of trip facilities will need to run a little differently to before COVID-19.

Some facilities might need caps on the number of people who can use the facility at the same time and cleaning will need to be done more regularly.

Bicycle Network is producing a guide with advice for workplaces on how to manage their end of trip facilities so people can keep riding to work.

To help us make the guide we’d like people to complete a survey, tell us how their end of trip facility works and if it will affect the way they travel to work after COVID-19.

Survey, images and content in this post courtesy of Bicycle Network.

07/01/202010/02/2020

Bike Works at Kunnanurra WA

This blog has looked at a number of programs that increase bike use, access and participation for indigenous Australians, such as:

In this post, we look at one of Bikes 4 Life programs that connects with local deadly youths living in a remote community to a range of other health services by improving bike participation.

Bikes 4 Life is an international non-government organisation that supplies bicycles all over the world to improve education access, health outcomes and income generation.

One of Bikes 4 Life’s programs operates in a remote Western Australia community in conjunction with the local organisation East Kimberley Job Pathways (EKJP).

East Kimberley Job Pathways is located in the far north of Western Australia in the isolated community of Kunnunurra. EKJP is a ‘for purpose’ Aboriginal Corporation with the primary purpose of delivering the Australian Government’s Community Development Programme across the broader East Kimberley Region of Western Australia.

In 2019, the EKJP team ran a bike rescue program called BikeWorks. The Bike Works program underpins a social and emotional wellbeing program that EKJP runs for local youths. This program teaches youths how to refurbish and maintain donated bicycles sourced through Bikes 4 Life. Read more about the program here.

The bikes used for the program are all recreational bikes (no roadies) because more robust bikes are better suited to the remote Western Australian terrain and climate.

The Bike Works program outcomes are:

Increased social and emotional wellbeing
Teamwork and networks
Building new relationships
Improved attendance at school (and/or other education pathways)
Raised aspirations of future pathways
Connection and contribution to community
Employment opportunities (within the Bike Program and with other employers)

The program was very successful. After a great start in 2019, and with increasing demands for bikes in the community, Bikes 4 Life is will continue sending bikes and supporting EKJP so this program can keep progressing.

Parts of this post are sourced from Bikes 4 Life Projects web page.

29/12/201921/01/2020

Bushfire koala’s cycling ambassador

As many of you know, the East coast of Australia is on fire.

Devastating bushfires continue to take lives, destroy homes and towns, raze vast tracks of forests and kill millions of animals.

Yet amongst such devastation, there are also stories of hope, kindness and survival.

Many cyclists may already be familiar with Adelaide rider Anna Heusler’s koala video that went viral.

Anna was riding with a group of friends in the Adelaide Hills when they saw a koala sitting in the middle of the road. With parts of the Adelaide Hills ravaged by fires, wildlife that are not killed, have been injured and displaced.

On the day Anna was riding, it was 42C and this koala was desperate for a drink.

Anna stopped to give the koala a drink. The koala, who has since been named Kodak, drank 8 bottles of water from the cyclists. They then ushered him off the road to safety.

The moving video of this encounter has been seen worldwide and brought attention to the desperate plight Australian wildlife is experiencing during these bushfires – and particularly for koalas.

Read more about Anna’s encounter here.

Since finding Kodak, Anna has a Thirsty Koalas project on Go Fund Me and has been working tirelessly volunteering for Koala rescue and rehabilitation to support their long-term survival.

Anna Heusler. Image: Chick who ride bikes.

Support the koalas

In support of Koala Rescue and Anna’s hard work, Chicks who Ride Bikes have re-released a limited edition Koala jersey where 100% of the profits will go to Koala rescue and rehabilitation.

Grab a koala cycling jersey now

Order a limited edition koala jersey and 100% of profits go towards the International Koala Centre of Excellence.

Supporting the koalas is a great way for cyclists to show they care, support bushfire efforts, see out 2019 and start the new 2020 year (and decade) on a positive note.

Our thoughts are with all those affected by the bushfires.

24/12/201912/01/2020

Lismore’s Bicycle Christmas Tree

Christmas is only moments away.

For previous Christmases, this blog has looked at:

For 2019, we are heading to Lismore in QLD, where for the past few years the local City Council has provided a public recycled art Christmas Tree. This very successful initiative all started with recycled bikes.

The Lismore Council public art Christmas tree initiative stemmed after the local ‘leaning tree’ that had previously been decorated for Christmases was (unduly and harshly) dubbed ‘the world’s most pathetic’ Christmas tree. (Note: Personally, I think the leaning tree was awesome. Such a pity that we don’t celebrate diversity and difference and the wonderful uniqueness in nature. As Gaudi stated ‘there are no straight lines in nature’ – I think it is the very twists, turns, messiness and curves that makes life so engaging and grand. The very thing that made that tree unique and special to some, others considered to be a flawed and an eyesore. I don’t agree that ‘perfection’ i.e. a straight tree (or a or a ‘pretty blonde female’ as an extrapolation) is necessarily beautiful. Perhaps we need to check in with our cultural value criteria – anyhow..back to Lismore).

So, in 2015, Lismore Council looked to change their tree and started a recycled public art initative.

Lismore’s Bicycle Christmas Trees

The recycled bicycle tree was the first of these instalments. In 2015, the Lismore Bike Christmas Tree was erected as a centrepiece for the main roundabout on the corner of Keen and Magellan Streets.

This intuitive is to celebrate the festive holiday season as well as Lismore’s commitment to recycling and sustainability.

A local bike shop, Revolve, supplied the 90 old bicycles (which otherwise would have gone to scrap), 50 litres of paint, almost half a tonne of steel for the frame and $30 of donated rainbow mis-tints from the local paint shop. GOLD!

Lismore’s council metal workshop welded the bicycle frames were welded onto the steel frame they had created as the base structure.

The final ‘tree’ was then painted in rainbow mis-tint colours by the council staff and their families in their own time.

The tree was then gifted by the council to Lismore residents.

Previous Lismore Recycled Art Christmas Tree

The Lismore Council Public Recycled Art Christmas Tree has had a number of reiterations since its first recycled bike tree.

Lismore’s tree for Christmas 2019 was a 7-metre ‘living’, growing structure. It has more than 300 potted plants, 100 metres of tinsel, 250 metres of solar-powered LEDs, 16 pairs of work trousers and matching boots. At the top instead of a star, council staff made a Planta (plant ‘Santa’).

The 2018 Lismore Christmas tree was made out discarded umbrellas.

In 2017 it was recycled road signs.

In 2016 it was recycled car tyres.

The 2015 Bicycle Christmas Tree has been the most popular instalment by far to date. In acknowledgement of this, the council is in discussion for a possible future tree that has sculptural bikes that produce power so that when visitors ride them, the generated power will light up the tree. Sounds similar to Brisbane’s Bicycle-powered Christmas Tree.

A big round of applause for Lismore Council for installing the recycled bike Christmas tree. An inspiring public project that brings community and council together to celebrate sustainability, recycling, community and creativity.

Here’s to more bicycle-inspired Christmas trees!

Happy holidays and safe riding all!

05/11/201904/12/2019

@CyclingBrisbane Instagram Takeover

This week I have been invited to take over Cycling Brisbane’s Instagram account.

This is an ongoing initiative that gives an individual or organisation the opportunity to control the Cycling Brisbane (@cyclingbrisbane) Instagram account for 7 days.

This is a great way to showcase community members and local biking groups various interests, perspectives and personalities.

The idea is that participants share their views of what riding in Brisbane means to them.

This account has guest host takeovers by an impressive range of Brisbane cycling and biking enthusiasts including Colony (BMX), Queensland Police, specific-type-of-bike fanatic/s, school groups, racers, families, local businesses, MTB clubs and more!

Similarly to this blog, my takeover key themes are inclusion, participation and diversity for a range of ages and stages of the community and for all types of cycling.

Ongoing motifs will also be dogs, local personalities, riding for enjoyment, having fun, sustainability/recycling, getting out in nature and showing off my local bayside surrounds.

And of course, lots of photos of Leki my flowerbike!

Check out what I have uploaded so far here.

IG Account Takeover

To do a @cyclingbrisbane takeover, you can either contact the organizers (at the link in the IG bio) or you are directly approached through the local cycling network or because someone knows/recommends you.

From there it straightforward. After you receive the terms and conditions and fill out the consent, then you receive the account login and dates of the takeover

I was contacted directly by the organizers who I know through various local biking events.

During the takeover, you need to upload between 1- 4 images per day to the @cyclingbrisbane Instagram account.

The idea is that images should be inspiring, visually appealing and most importantly representative of the great cycling options around Brisbane.

Content should align with Cycling Brisbane’s core themes of commuting, connectivity, discovering Brisbane by bike or active and healthy lifestyles.

You can only upload images and/or videos and they have to be your own original work.

Uploads need to include the hashtag #cyclingbne

Of course, all content uploaded needs to model responsible cycling practices. So, you need to obey road rules, wear a helmet and not use a mobile phone while riding a bike. That’s why there are no selfies of people riding their bikes.

This is a great initiative and one that other organizations might consider doing to increase engagement, exposure and diversity in their social media platforms.

It also makes it much more interesting for those who follow the account because each week you are getting these insights into the vastly different people, places and biking lifeworlds that make up our Brisbane bicycle/cycling community.

If you are in Brisbane, love bikes and are interested in doing a takeover, direct message the Cycling Brisbane (@cyclingbrisbane).

18/09/201928/09/2019

The Big Push & Kurilpa Derby 2019

The start of this month was epic!

First of all, it was Father’s Day in Australia and the weather in Brisbane this time of year is absolutely stunning.

This meant everyone was out and about.

There were two annual kick-ass Brisbane bike events to get this month off to a brilliant start: The Big Push and The Kurilpa Derby.

So much fun to be had on two wheels!

The Big Push

The Big Push is an annual slow roll around Brisbane CBD. It is hosted by Space4Cycling Brisbane and is held during QLD’s Road Safety Week. The aim was to bring the cycling community together and to call on the Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government to improve riding conditions. At the top of community riding needs are three things: build more protected bike lanes, connect networks, and slower speeds in suburban streets. This is so riding in Brisbane will be safer, more comfortable and more convenient for people of all ages and abilities.

On the day, Leki and I headed down to Kurilpa Park to join a whole lot of other riders. It was an excellent turnout. I’d love to know how many people actually attended – it felt like a lot.

We did a slow roll around Brisbane on a designated route. Leki was in fine form and everyone was in a good mood. After a safety talk and a few speeches, we were off. As we rode, we chatted amongst ourselves, made new friends and waved to passer-bys.

I was very impressed with how many under 10-year olds rode the whole way with their parents. I also loved the dogs in trailers and baskets – nothing says bike safety like two pugs in a tandem bike trailer!

There were quite a few people around the city and the mass of red shirts on bikes drew a lot of attention. We also had a police escort and were waved through some traffic lights, but had to stop at others.

At specific points along the route, we all stopped so the whole group could re-form. I really liked these stops. It was great fun getting to a point and riding into the ever expanding swirling circle. It was cool watching the vortex grow in mass as more riders filtered into the loop.

Bells were ringing, speakers played happy tunes, people were laughing – a joyous mass of people on bikes!

At Parliament House we all stopped for a group photo.

Another great Big Push!

Then it was time to head over to Kurilpa Derby for the afternoon.

Image: Space4Cycling (BNE)

The Kurilpa Derby

The Kurilpa Derby is an annual community celebration of life on wheels and happens once a year in West End (Brisbane, Australia).

The Kurilpa Derby began as an expression of community celebration and inclusivity.

Each year there is a parade (bicycles are central to this) and novelty races run at the heart of Boundary St, West End (Brisbane, Queensland). The whole street is closed off and the locals take over. This event was first run in 2007. So this year is the Derby’s 12th anniversary.

The Derby is a community event owned and organised by the @WestEndCommunityAssociation. WECA is the residents not-for-profit community based, member-led association.

The Kurilpa Derby officially started at 2pm, but locals and visitors were already out in force well before that.

There is so much to do at the Derby. The locals block off the main street and take it over. One of the main events is a massive street parade.

The Kurilpa Derby parade goes down Boundary Street (from the Dornoch Terrace Bridge to the intersection of Boundary Street and Jane Street. The street is lined with hundreds of appreciative visitors cheering the parade on.

It is an incredible showcase of the range of skills, creativity, spirit and dreams of those who enter – it truly is a spectacle to behold!

There were parade bicycles representing lots of different perspectives such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, community and music groups, environmental issues like the ocean, plastic, global warming, representations of animals, birds, reptiles and insects, school groups, and heaps of others!

And the bikes! Tall bikes, penny-farthings, home-made bikes, tandems, trailers, trikes and more!

Bikes are a central feature of the street parade – and the colour, thought and effort put into the floats is phenomenal.

After the main street parade, there are heaps of sports and skill demonstrations, fun games and races – some novelty (like the go-cart and kids running races), some more serious (like the scooter races).

Local shops, bars and cafes are packed to capacity and there is music, dancing, eating and laughing emanating from everywhere.

I love the energy and community of The Kuripla Derby – so many kids, families, friends, locals and visitors coming together to celebrate the diversity and vibrancy of this beautiful local community. What an event!

It was a busy, fun-filled, community-centred, bicycle-related day – Phew!

It does not get much better than that!

See you all there next year!

Image: @Kaipantano
Image: @hughdopey
Image: @MondoWorld

16/07/201917/07/2019

‘Thought control’ bicycle for spinal injury rehab

I am delighted to share this story. As well as being an incredibly inspirational story and testament to Dinesh Palipana’s unique fortitude and character, this story showcases some of the pioneering work that my university is doing. …And it is totally bike related! I’ve been working at Griffith for over 5 years now. I am continually impressed with the reach, impact and significant contributions Griffith makes to improve society. Last year, I posted about Griffith design graduate and PhD candidate James Novak’s global award-winning world’s first 3D printed bicycle – also unreal!! This story is about how Dinesh and his team turned an accident he had during his PhD into a scientific-bike research breakthrough. This article was originally published by Griffith News earlier this year. Here it is in full. Enjoy! NG.

Griffith medical graduate and Gold Coast University Hospital junior doctor Dinesh Palipana thinks about walking a lot, since a car accident left him a quadriplegic part-way through his medicine degree.

Now he’s thinking about pushing the pedals of a specially-adapted recline bike, and thanks to electronic muscle stimulation, he’s actually moving, in what is the first step towards a world-first integrated neuro-musculoskeletal rehabilitation program, being developed at the Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct (GCHKP).

Griffith biomechanical scientists and engineers Professor David Lloyd, Dr Claudio Pizzolato and his team, together with Dinesh as both researcher and patient, are aiming to use their ground-breaking 3D computer-simulated biomechanical model, connected to an electroencephalogram (EEG) to capture Dinesh’s brainwaves, to stimulate movement, and eventually recovery.

Thinking about riding a bike

“The idea is that a spinal injury or neurological patient can think about riding the bike. This generates neural patterns, and the biomechanical model sits in the middle to generate control of the patient’s personalised muscle activation patterns. These are then personalised to the patient, so that they can then electrically stimulate the muscles to make the patient and bike move,” says Professor Lloyd who is also from Griffith’s Menzies Health Institute Queensland.

“It’s all in real-time, with the model adjusting the amount of stimulation required as the patient starts to recover.

“We’re in the early stages of research and we’re having to improvise with our equipment, however we know we have shown our real-time personalised model works, basically like a digital twin of the patient.”

Dr Palipana is excited to be part of such novel research in his own backyard.

“I have a selfish and vested interest in spinal cord injury research and I’m completely happy to be the guinea pig,” Dr Palipana says.

“We’ve had equipment for many years where people passively exercise using stationary bikes, and stationary methods where people get on and the equipment moves their legs for them. The problem is you really need some stimulation from the brain.

“As the years go by we’re starting to realise that the whole nervous system is very plastic and it has to be trained, so actually thinking about moving the bike or doing an activity stimulates the spinal cord from the top down and that creates change.”

This top down, bottom up approach is novel, with the model effectively providing a substitute connection between the limbs and the brain where it was previously broken when the spinal cord was injured.

The neuro-rehabilitation research will dovetail with exciting research by Griffith biomedical scientist, Associate Professor James St John, who has had promising results for his biological treatment using olfactory (nasal) cells, to create nerve bridges to regenerate damaged spinal cords.

Establishing new neural pathways

“You use the modelling to recreate the connection, and over time, with the science of Associate Professor James St John, you establish new neural pathways. So over time patients will be less dependent on the model to control the bike movement and it will move back to their own control, with their regenerating spinal cord and their reprogrammed neural pathways,” says Professor Lloyd.

Associate Professor James St John hopes to move into human clinical trials in the GCHKP within the next 2-3 years, and in parallel Professor Lloyd and his team hope to refine their rehab testing with Dinesh, and develop the technology with leading global companies in exoskeleton design. These companies, could in turn, be attracted into the 200-hectare GCHKP.

“In ten years we want to be a one-stop shop for spinal cord injury and complex neurological patients,” Professor Lloyd says.

“I’m just really lucky to be well-positioned here where it’s all happening and I want to be involved as much as possible as a doctor and a potential scientist,” says Dr Palipana.

“It’s my university, my hospital, my city – it’s just really nice to be a part of that.”

Further links:

ABC Australian Story, 26 February 2018 http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/australian-story/NC1802Q004S00
‘I might be quadriplegic, but I’m your doctor‘

Images and text courtesy of Griffth University News.

11/07/201911/07/2019

NAIDOC Week 2019

What is NAIDOC Week?

This week is 2019 NAIDOC Week in Australia.

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life.

The week is a great opportunity to participate in a range of activities and to support your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has since become the name of the week itself.

During NAIDOC Week, there is a National NAIDOC Week awards ceremony. The awards are presented to inspirational Indigenous people in ten different categories including: Person of the year, Elder of the year, Artist of the year, Apprentice of the year, Scholar of the year, Youth of the year, Sportsperson of the year and the Caring for Country award.

Here’s a list of NAIDOC Week Events

NAIDOC Week 2019 Theme

For decades, NAIDOC has had significant themes to represent, celebrate and raise awareness to significant Indigenous affairs. This year the focus is on significant and lasting change to better the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander peoples: Voice. Treaty. Truth.

Voice. Treaty. Truth.

This theme aim at getting everyone together for a shared future.

The Indigenous voice of this country is over 65,000 plus years old.

They are the first words spoken on this continent. Languages that passed down lore, culture and knowledge for over millennia. They are precious to our nation.

It’s that Indigenous voice that include know-how, practices, skills and innovations – found in a wide variety of contexts, such as agricultural, scientific, technical, ecological and medicinal fields, as well as biodiversity-related knowledge.

They are words connecting us to country, an understanding of country and of a people who are the oldest continuing culture on the planet.

And with 2019 being celebrated as the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages, it’s time for our knowledge to be heard through our voice.

For generations, we have sought recognition of our unique place in Australian history and society today. We need to be the architects of our lives and futures.

For generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have looked for significant and lasting change.

Voice. Treaty. Truth. were three key elements to the reforms set out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. These reforms represent the unified position of First Nations Australians.

The Uluru Statement of the Heart

The Statement is a document Aboriginal people from all over Australia agreed on. In it they express that they are a sovereign people, and what they want the government to do to recognise and support this sovereignty. It also comments on the social difficulties faced by Aboriginal people.

It is not the first time Aboriginal people crafted such a document, but probably the first time Aboriginal people form a united position and a single key recommendation, or, as The Guardian put it, “the largest ever consensus of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on a proposal for substantive recognition”.

While previous documents of Aboriginal aspirations were usually addressed to the Parliament, the Uluru Statement From the Heart is directed to the Australian public.

Information in this post is sourced from the NAIDOC official website, SBS Learn NAIDOC Secondary Resource, Creative Spirits: Explainer Uluru Statement and Five Fast Facts by Reconciliation Australia.