As well as celebrating culture, NAIDOC week is an opportunity to recognise the contributions made by Indigenous Australians to the Forbes community. The purpose of NAIDOC Week is to celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and to foster greater understanding of Indigenous culture. As part of this year’s NAIDOC Week celebrations recognition was given to the outstanding contributions that local Indigenous people make to improve the community or to promote Indigenous issues.
The theme for this year’s celebration is Voice, Treaty, Truth. Worthy recipients for 2019 were Natasha Harris for Indigenous Person of the Year, Courtney Hodge for Indigenous Youth of the Year, Ellie Flick for Indigenous Sports Person of the Year and Raymond Thorpe for Indigenous Creative Person of the Year.
People on court-ordered communityservices at Forbes, have been working in collaboration with the Wiradjuri Dreaming Centre to clean up and prepare local sites for NAIDOC events this week. The offenders have enjoyed working alongside the Aboriginal community, engaging with the culture, gaining knowledge, building respectful relationships with each other, and creating a greater unity within their communities.
This Department of Justice NSW program demonstrates community collaboration, engaging with the Aboriginal Culture, opportunity for people to gain knowledge and share their skills.
CSNSW Field Officer Peter said: “It is great for offenders to use their skills like signwriting, painting and gardening to help out where they can in Forbes.”
An Aboriginal Client Service Officer from Forbes Community Corrections was also involved in the local NAIDOC events, cooking Aboriginal foods for attendees.