This week, July 4-11, is NAIDOC Week here in Australia.
NAIDOC Week celebrates the history, cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and is a great opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The NAIDOC 2021 theme is Heal Country! and calls for Australians to continue to seek greater protections for the traditional lands, waters, sacred sites and cultural heritage of our indigenous peoples, from exploitation, desecration, and destruction.
The theme invites the nation to embrace First Nations cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia’s national heritage, and to equally respect the cultures and values of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as they do the cultures and values of all Australians.
In honour of NAIDOC Week, I've made some updates to the checkout page to allow customers to include the Traditional Place Name for their location, within Australia.
Here in Brisbane, the city itself was traditionally known as Mianjin by the local Yuggera and Turrbal peoples. My suburb "Coorparoo" is an anglicised version of the traditional Yuggera place name "koolpurrum" which means mosquito (the suburb includes a natural swampy area bordering a creek, which has been transformed into a string of parks nowadays).
As an example, my address here at AJL Draws looks like this on the updated Checkout Page:
Next time you checkout you'll see a prompt to include the Traditional Place Name for the land upon which you live.
How are you celebrating NAIDOC Week?
x AJ