METRONET projects celebrated NAIDOC Week 2024 with delicious food, engaging education and entertainment all centred around the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.

This year’s NAIDOC theme of ‘Keep the Fire Burning! Blak, Loud & Proud’ honours the enduring strength and vitality of Indigenous cultures – with fire a symbol of connection to land, each other, and the rich tapestry of traditions that define Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

To start the week, Olman Wally from Boorloo Aboriginal Cultural Experience greeted the team on the METRONET Victoria Park-Canning Level Crossing Removal Project with a traditional Welcome to Country.

Local Aboriginal business Just Because Cookies then taught staff about a variety of Dreamtime symbols and their meanings through cleverly crafted and deliciously decorated cookies.

To close out the week, project contractor Laing O’Rourke hosted a night of film and comedy for teams on the METRONET Morley-Ellenbrook Line Project and METRONET Byford Rail Extension Project. The evening featured local Noongar comedian and 2019 Deadly Funny Award winner, Fabian Woods, and a screening of Audrey Napanangka - a heart-warming story of Audrey, a Warlpiri woman, and her struggle to care for her children under a colonial system.