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This week, Saturday 4 August is the 2018 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day, organised by the Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC).
The theme for this year's Children's Day is SNAICC - Celebrating Our Children for 30 Years.
According to SNAICC Children's Day is a time for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families to celebrate the strengths and culture of their children and is an opportunity for all Australians to show their support for Aboriginal children, as well as learn about the crucial impact that community, culture and family play in the life of every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child.
To celebrate Children's Day, SNAICC is inviting communities to take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of the highlights of the last 30 years. This includes protest movements instigated by the community that led to the establishment of the first Children's Day on 4 August 1988.
SNAICC is encouraging organisations to take an active role in organising an event for Children's Day and suggests this could be independently or in partnership with a local Aboriginal group.
SNAICC offers the following suggestions for early childhood services wanting to commemorate and celebrate Children's Day.
- Hold a morning tea or BBQ, including cultural performances
- Arrange for children to create paintings and artwork about the Children's Day theme and display them around the centre
- Arrange for children (and families) to participate in culturally appropriate activities
- Hold a family fun day for foster and kinship carers and their foster children
- Highlight the achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children through young achiever awards
- Bring elders, families and their children together in your service for storytelling
- Hold a flag raising ceremony with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags
- Invite local Aboriginal leaders and elders to spend some time in your service on Children's Day
To learn more about Children's Day and to register your event visit the dedicated website for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children's Day.
Children's Day is also a great opportunity to share books and stories about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture. Check out some of the wonderful titles below for inspiration:
Welcome to Country
By Aunty Joy Murphy & Lisa Kennedy
An accessible welcome that gives meaning and explanation within the text to the customs and symbols of Indigenous Australians.
Fair Skin Black Fella
By Renee Fogorty
The story of Mary a fair skinned Aboriginal girl who learns that identity is greater than the colour of your skin and that family, community, country, culture and spirituality are what being Aboriginal is really about.
Tjarany Roughtail
By Gracie Greene, Joe Tramacchi & Lucille Gill
Eight dreamtime stories significant to the Kukatja people from the Kimberley Region of Western Australia.
Once There Was A Boy
By Dub Leffler
A beautifully illustrated story of friendship, temptation and reconciliation. Suitable for very young children as well as school aged children.
Why I Love Australia
By Bronwyn Bancroft
A trip through Australia using very few words and colourful pictures to illustrate the amazing diversity of the landscape. On every page an Aboriginal Elder with a smoking coolamon is the host to each of the landscapes depicted.
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