50 years of NAIDOC

This year the theme for NAIDOC Week is to celebrate the achievements of the past while empowering future generations. NAIDOC began as a movement for recognition and rights lead by Indigenous communities. Over the decades, it has grown into a powerful celebration of the enduring strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

For NAIDOC Week 2025, we raised the Torres Strait Islander flag at Lobs Hole and the Cooma Office.  This is an incredibly important milestone, to recognise wrongs of the past and to move forward together.

Jo Drummond, Future Generation JV’s Indigenous and Social Inclusion Advisor, said the Snowy 2.0 project’s commitment to ongoing learning and engagement extends beyond the prescribed dates of NAIDOC Week.

“NAIDOC Week is such a significant time,” Jo said. “Continuing those conversations and activities year-round helps create lasting change and understanding. By tying it into the project’s operations schedule, we are showing how these activities can be integrated into the broader rhythm of the project, rather than being treated as a standalone event,” she said.

What does NAIDOC week mean to me?

“NAIDOC is a celebration and sharing of strength, resilience, and continued achievements of my culture with all Australians is an important part of recognising that this is our shared history,” Jo said.

“We should all take pride in the fact that, despite the challenges we’ve faced, we continue to carry forward the stories, wisdom, and traditions of those who came before us.

“Our culture doesn’t just survive – it lives, it breathes, it thrives. I carry a deep responsibility to honour those who paved the way by ensuring our young ones continue to stand tall, walk strong, and achieve deadly things,” she said.

NAIDOC Week events

·         Art competition for school children at Cooma Multicultural Centre

·         Raising the Torres Strait Islander flag at Lobs Hole and the Cooma Office

·         Cultural awareness discussion with elders and project leaders