NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year’s theme is ‘Heal Country’. Country is more than just land, it is inherent to identity, sustaining Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life in every aspect. Country is family, kin, law, lore, ceremony, traditions, and language. Healing Country means embracing First Nation’s cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia’s national heritage.
We recognise the Dja Dja Wurrung people as the traditional custodians of the land on which our head office in Bendigo is situated. Pictured here are GPSA staff Lachlan Butcher and Belinda O’Sullivan in front of a Dja Dja Wurrung scar tree on the grounds of the Bendigo hospital. Tree bark from trees such as this was used in the manufacture of articles such as canoes, shields and coolamons (bowls). Trees such as these serve as an important reminder of the Dja Dja Wurrung presence in the landscape since time immemorial.