NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July, this year’s theme is ‘For Our Elders’.
Shelley Ware hosted a basket weaving workshop for VIS staff in the lead up to NAIDOC Week. Originally from Adelaide and currently living in Melbourne, Ware has spent most of the past decade as a radio and television presenter, corporate speaker and educator. She is also a part-time Aboriginal Education Officer, passionate about embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples culture and history into our national curriculum.
The workshop began with Ware demonstrating the technique of basket weaving and assisting staff in making their own baskets. Basket weaving is a traditional practice among many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, with techniques and practices often influenced by the local environments as they are made from local materials. First Nations communities commonly used baskets for gathering and storing food, carrying water and fishing.
Ware discussed her family’s history telling stories of her grandfather and father’s journeys, their resilience living in Missionaries and the challenges they faced to support their families.
For further education and knowledge of First Nations history, Ware recommends the following resources.
Books:
- Freedom Day: Vincent Lingiari and the Story of the Wave Hill Walk-Off by Thomas Mayo, Rosie Smiler, Samantha Campbell
- Elders, by Peter McConchie
- Luwa Tara Luwa Waypa: three Kangaroos three Tasmania Aboriginal Men, by Dave mangenner Gough, Samantha Campbell
- Country Tells Us When…, by Tsheena Cooper, Mary Dann, Dalisa Pigram-Ross, Sheree Ford
TV Series:
- The Australian Wars on SBS Demand
- The First Inventors on SBS Demand and Ten Play
