NAIDOC Week celebrations
With NAIDOC Week commencing on Sunday 4 July, Opteon is taking the opportunity to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
We kicked off celebrations on Monday morning with a special address to Opteon’s people by Songwoman Maroochy and Baringa of the Turrbal People, the original inhabitants of Brisbane. They are direct descendants of Daki Yakka – Chief of the Old Brisbane tribe.
Maroochy and Baringa of the Turrbal People, the original inhabitants of Brisbane
This year’s NAIDOC Week theme is ‘Heal Country, heal our nation,’ and calls for stronger measures to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage.
Maroochy and Baringa spoke about the importance of their own connection to Country.
For Indigenous people, Country is more than just a place. Country encompasses the cultural, social, physical and spiritual connection with the land and waters, and extends to all within it; the plants, animals, rocks, hills, special and sacred sites, waterways, air, earth and everything in between.
In order to help heal Country and nation, Maroochy and Baringa both stressed the importance of prioritising the environment and protecting sacred sites.
All members of the community can play a part by minimizing the use of plastic and other environmental hazards.
Building respect for First Nations culture is also important and recognising the importance of sacred sites to Indigenous people will go a long way in ensuring the connection to Country is maintained.
The Strawflower is a wildlife/habitat plant that attracts butterflies and insects, providing food for insect-eating birds.
Opteon launched another great initiative this week to support the theme of ‘Heal Country, heal our nation,’ offering Indigenous seed packets to all Australian staff members.
With a choice of three seed options including Low Maintenance Seeds, Wildlife/Habitat Seeds and Culinary Seeds that all positively impact the Australian environment, we hope that Opteon’s people can play a small part in healing Country.
Design note: We would like to thank Leigh Harris of ingeous studios for the beautiful design work he produced for us to celebrate NAIDOC Week. Leigh is a Cairns-based Aboriginal business owner with over 25 years in business and serial entrepreneur with traditional connections to the Kanolu people of Central Queensland and Gungarri people of South East Queensland who is also proud of his Italian and Welsh heritage.
ingeous studios is an Indigenous owned and staffed creative design and digital innovation agency. They can be found here.
