'Call to action': NAIDOC Week theme aimed at all cultures

Holding off on formal festivities until warmer spring weather, Orange City Council hosted morning tea at the Civic Theatre, marking the Australia-wide commemorations.

Local Aboriginal Elder, Uncle Neil Ingram started the city's NAIDOC Week event with a Welcome to Country, followed by a speech from Orange's deputy mayor Gerald Power.

Placing great emphasis on this year's theme, Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!, Mr Power says the theme's importance also points to the country's cultural progressiveness.

"We need to recognise that the theme this year really reflects on where we are in Australia - as First Nations people and as a nation, on the whole it's very timely," Mr Power said.

"We've got to take it to that next level - we need to get up, to take a stand on [First Nations] issues and to really, physically start showing up in order to get those actions of change happening."

After unpacking the latest census data, Mr Power says the number of people identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander in the region, continues to show growth.

Jumping from a figure of 650 to 800, he says the latest numbers are an indication of "less hiding" amidst the Indigenous community - where "ticking the box" of cultural identification has been a rarity of ease for many, past and present.

"Even in my generation, it was not 'cool' to be Aboriginal and I've always reflected on that, because there's a lot of people who had stood their ground and identified; and they wonder why more people are 'suddenly' identifying now," Mr Power said.

"But, for a lot of people in those days, no parent wanted their child to be rejected, you know? No child wants to be rejected, from any community, and from the stolen generation and all of these other issues, they didn't want to have their children removed.

"So, unfortunately, a lot of times they they just declared that they were something else - like Italian, or Maltese - to dodge that stigma of being an Aboriginal person, but what the census is showing now, is that a lot more people are starting to say 'yep, now it's cool to be an Aboriginal person'."

Unable to vote until 1967, Mr Powers says the stigmatised views that the First Nations community has dealt a lot of pain out among his people.

Though, the nation's growth and awareness, he says, is slowly but surely, coming along.

"When you look at the referendum, you look at Paul Keating's speech in Redfern in 1993, then prime minister Kevin Rudd's apology, saying sorry in 2008, these little footsteps show people that it's okay to be who we are," Mr Power said.

"And we don't have to hide so that we're not rejected or stigmatised, we can be proud of who we are now - the oldest-living civilisation on the face of the planet."

It's been a long journey and it'll be a long journey still, with the deputy mayor saying hurts from the past are still undeniably "close to the bone" for the Indigenous community.

Whether it's practiced in the workplace, education settings or in the home, Mr Power says if everyone bands together when it comes to Aboriginal affairs, cultural recovery and healing levels stands a better chance of being attained.

"We are still close to the bone on many things, but if we can all just reflect and then walk this walk together in whatever path of our lives - whether that's in schools, working as a police officer, for an NGO or in community services - then we'll continue to stand strong together," he said.

"We'll get up, we'll stand up and we'll show up, which is something we can all do, and that's taking those little footsteps closer and closer to bridging the gap - we need to all reflect on that."

Also in attendance on Tuesday, Cr David Mallard says the theme of this year's NAIDOC Week is a resounding "call to action" for all, with each person able to play their part in achieving ongoing, cultural progression.

"It's a call to action for those of us who aren't Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, because it really puts the opportunity there for us to think about what we can do to be better allies in the community and to educate ourselves," Cr Mallard said.

"And we can do that through getting along to events like this, because they're a great opportunity to get behind our First Nations community as they continue to push for environmental and cultural heritage protection - and for constitutional change, treaties and truth-telling, as well."

Orange will officially celebrate the current July 3 to July 10 NAIDOC Week in late October to early November, with a street march, Robertson Park's community activities, and more events.

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