Building stronger community focus of Bunbury NAIDOC Week flag-raising ceremony

The Bunbury community braved the cold on Monday morning to to embrace the start of NAIDOC Week. A crowd gathered at the Graham Bricknell Memorial Music Shell for the city’s flag-raising ceremony and to hear from Aboriginal leaders on what this year’s theme Heal Country means to them. Heal Country calls for a greater understanding of what country and connection to country means for First Nations people and asks people to continue the push for greater protection of Australia’s land, water and cultural heritage from exploitation. Yaka Dandjoo Events chair Karen Jetta said being connected to country strengthened spirits. “Country is healing,” she said. “We need to look after it and it will look after us.” She said NAIDOC Week was an important time of acknowledgement. “It’s about moving forward, and that’s were we need to be,” she said. “We need to be acknowledging the history in Australia on a daily basis to continue to build a better nation.” Bunbury mayor Gary Brennan said it was great to see a powerful turnout despite the harsh weather and he encouraged everyone to visit the Noongar Country exhibition on display at Bunbury Regional Art Gallery. “You get a real sense of feeling and get an understanding of what country means to the artists,” he said. He called on the community to continue to educate themselves on Australia’s history and on the rich culture present in the South West. “Let’s become more aware of what it means to be Noongar and our Wardandi people and what it means to be a part of country,” Mr Brennan said. “There is so much we can learn from the community. “If we can all share that it will help us to be a stronger community.”