NAIDOC Week at the Maritime Museum

Celebrate the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth, exploring stories and knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with a big day out of culture tours, performance and art.

Celebrate NAIDOC Week 2023 with a Family Fun Day, honouring the theme – For Our Elders at the Australian National Maritime Museum.

The day will begin with a smoking ceremony, Welcome to Country with didjeridoo performed by musician and composer Matthew Doyle at 10am, followed by tours, and drop-in art and craft workshops all day.

TOURS

• Tour The Harbour: Discover sites of significance for Gadigal people of the Eora nation throughout time, guided by the Museum’s Indigenous Curator, Tyson Frigo, aboard an historic Rosman Ferry.
• Shaped By the Sea Guided Exhibition Tour: Explorr Deep Time knowledges, artworks and installations - including work from the internationally-acclaimed Mulka Project with Indigenous Programs Manager Matt Poll

Tours run throughout the day and can be booked on entry

WORKSHOPS

•  Weaving Workshops: With celebrated artists, Casino Wake Up Time (Bundjalung and Kamilaroi) demonstrate the collective’s collaborative, hands-on crafting process, using harvested fibres to create usable objects and art.
• Goanna Hut Food Demonstrations: Indigenous food company bring food demonstrations and bush tea tastings, taking place waterside.

ARTS & CULTURE

• Song and dance performances from women’s culture and educational ensemble, Djaadjawan Dancers (Yuin) share women’s stories from the south coast of NSW, and the museum’s newly-opened Bamal space hosts storytelling sessions throughout the day.
• Film screenings run all day in the museum’s Theatre, including Sea Country, an exploration of Tasmania’s unique, stark Great Southern Reef and the big issues facing these waters and custodians.