News Article

NAIDOC Week

NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to celebrate Indigenous culture and the achievements of Aboriginal people. Many Local Reconciliation Groups marked NAIDOC Week last month by holding their own events all around the State.

The North Illawarra Reconciliation & Treaty Group (NIRTG) hosted a very successful NAIDOC Week Social Evening. The program for the evening included a tribute to the late Waratah (Rosemarie) Gillespie, and a screening of Waratah's short film "Witness to Invasion" (filmed in 2003 while she was acting as a human shield and eyewitness to the war in Iraq).

NIRTG presented "Un-sung Heroes" Elders Awards to four people in recognition of their important roles in community leadership and/or their contribution to improving relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities and for assisting the on-going reconciliation process within the northern Illawarra.
The NAIDOC 2010 Elders Awards were given to Uncle Richard Archibald, Sharralyn Robinson, Bruce Reyburn, and Jill Walker.



Thank you Renee

The NSWRC would like to extend the warmest of warm thank you's to outgoing Indigenous Co-Chair Renee Williamson. Renee has decided to focus on her family and completing her studies, we wish her the best of luck.

Renee has served the Council in an outstanding manner for a long time now. Her contribution to the Reconciliation movement is clear and we will officially recognise the support and leadership she has given to this organisation in the upcoming September Congress meeting. Thanks Renee!



National Congress

Since the collapse of ATSIC under the Howard Government, Australia has been the only developed nation without a representative body for it's Indigenous people. This is set to change with the establishment of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples.

Their vision? "To be a national leader and advocate for recognising the status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as First Nation peoples."

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