Celebrating NAIDOC Week

In the spirit of reconciliation, Steel Blue acknowledges the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to elders past, present and emerging and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year’s theme is “Always Was, Always Will Be”, recognising that the First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years.

The Steel Blue Team will be coming together throughout NAIDOC Week 2020 to participate in a number of activities to learn more about the Traditional Custodians throughout Australia.

Steel Blue is a proud partner of the Swan Districts Football Club and Clontarf Foundation, two organisations that are proactive in Western Australia to build community and improve people’s lives by providing opportunities to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Swan Districts Football Club

Steel Blue has been a proud sponsor of the Swan Districts Football Club since 2004. The club’s core purpose is more than just footy, they use football as a common language to engage with and deliver outreach programs right across Western Australia.

The Swan Districts Football Club truly pave the way in the WAFL with their community outreach programs and initiatives. Their community programs are run across the metropolitan and regional areas of the state to connect and engage with marginalised people and communities. Their community programs assist youth at risk, seniors, people with disabilities, Aboriginal, multicultural people and more.

The WAFL season may be over this year but the Club are conducting NAIDOC activities in alignment with the schools including:

• Marn Grook vs Mooditj football game and facilitating dancing for the female students at Swan View Primary School
• Painting and learning how to throw boomerangs (Kylies) at Eastern Hills Senior High School
• Painting the six seasons (bonor) with the male students at Kiara College
• Marn Grook activities at Guildford Primary School

These activities are in addition to their participation in the Midland NAIDOC Week events and their football game at Midvale Primary School to end the week’s celebrations.

Clontarf Foundation

The Clontarf Foundation improves the education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem and employment prospects of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men, and by doing so, equips them to participate more meaningfully in society.

The Clontarf Foundation increases school attendance rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys that are participating in the program. The foundation keeps these young men within the education system until they finish Year 12, and then assists by placing them into suitable employment.

Each of the 122 Clontarf Foundation Academies within 135 schools across Western Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia will run their own activities and initiatives to celebrate NAIDOC Week 2020.

For more information about the Clontarf Foundation, go to www.clontarf.org.au

To find out more about NAIDOC Week, visit www.naidoc.org.au/