Celebrating NAIDOC Week 2021 - Heal Country

City of Perth14 Jun '214 min read

From 4 July, the City of Perth will be recognising the NAIDOC week theme: Heal Country. Perth is located in the ancient country of the Whadjuk Nyoongar people, the Traditional Custodians of the south west of Western Australia for at least 45,000 years. Here are some events you can get involved in this NAIDOC week to recognise and immerse yourself in the history of this land.

Please note the below events may be affected by the Perth and Peel lockdown. We encourage you to check back to see if dates and times have changed.

Due to the Perth lockdown, NAIDOC week has postponed a number of events, including the NAIDOC Week Perth Official Opening Ceremony. This will now take place on 18 July. Here you can join the community as it celebrates and shares in the culture and history of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the beginning of a commemorative week.

Celebrating NAIDOC week 2021

As planned, Maali Festival will take place at the State Theatre Centre of WA. This free two-day community event will have you marvelling at the art of the world’s oldest living cultures. Enrich yourself in a smoking ceremony to start, followed by a Welcome to Country. You will be able to enjoy play readings of Nyumbi, the return of WA’s longest running theatre work Binjarreb Pinjarra and join in a dance under the stars in the courtyard.

Maali Festival has been postponed and the organisers are working on a rescheduled date. Keep an eye on their website for updates.

Other exciting performances will be on show for NAIDOC week such as York, an epic tale that uncovers our buried history in the township of York itself on Ballardong Nyoongar Country. You can also see a tale of two sisters and their sides to a story left unsaid, Fire features a First Nations female lead in a play full of comedy, culture and koort (heart).

Take a trip to James Street Amphitheatre to see the NAIDOC Sand Mural by Acacia Cultural Designs. This mural will represent this year’s theme and celebrate the wide community. You will also find the Heal Country Trail in the Central Plaza, this display features ten aerial photographs of country as large-scale decals in different locations.