METRONET celebrated NAIDOC Week by engaging in activities, listening to presentations, and attending performances that celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
This year’s theme, Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!, calls for systemic change, comprehensive truth-telling, strong heritage protections and a commitment to fight for change.
Across our projects, we engaged in activities and events to get up, stand up and show up!
The METRONET New Bayswater Station Project celebrated NAIDOC Week with a Welcome to Country, a performance by the Koolangkas Kreate dance group, participating in an art workshop with Acacia Cultural Designs and trying bush tucker!
The Yanchep Rail Extension and Thornlie-Cockburn Link projects marked the week with presentations by guest speakers. The teams also enjoyed Traditional Aboriginal cuisine.
The METRONET team participated in a NAIDOC Week Amazing Race Cultural Journey, to increase knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories and cultures, and drive cultural learning in our workforce.
Teams and their families participated in cultural learning activities such as watching films and documentaries, reading books, visiting significant sites in Perth, and attending events in the community that celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Aboriginal Engagement Lead, Brenton Turner, helped develop the activity to encourage the team and their families to get involved in NAIDOC Week celebrations and reflect on our shared histories.
“We created the program to highlight what’s happening in our communities and activate our workforce to participate in activities with their families."
The team reflected on the discussions raised and learnings they took away from the activities they completed.
“Aboriginal culture is all around us, and the activities helped us appreciate aspects of this culture that we might not have known before."
“The activities were a fun and interactive way to celebrate NAIDOC Week. They were also a great opportunity to learn from our history.”
“The guest speaker at the METRONET NAIDOC Week event earlier in the week, Dr Hannah McGlade, inspired me to look into further studies after learning the progress she’s made in her community and her passion for systemic change.”