NAIDOC Week 2026 Celebrations
- Jul 30
- 2 min read
Once again our mob had another deadly NAIDOC Week with activities for everyone including our Flag Raisings in Heywood and Hamilton, Elders Lunch, Lake Condah Mission Walk, Youth Formal, and Community Day.
Thankyou to Nicole Cleary for once again capturing an amazing week for our mob.
Our Heywood Flag Raising was our highest attended one yet, with mob as well as other local organisations, businesses and friends and supporters of Winda-Mara coming along on a cold but sunny morning to be welcomed to Country by Aunty Ros Pevitt, watch the Koondoom Yarkeen Karweeyn dancers perform, watch our flags be raised by our young community members, and take part in a smoking ceremony and enjoy a delicious morning tea.
Our Hamilton Flag Raising was held for the first time at our new community house at 60 Ballarat Rd which our team moved into in late June. This was our highest attended Hamilton flag raising with the dancers, smoking ceremony, flag raisings and afternoon tea kicked off by a Welcome to Country by Aunty Tina Wright.
Our Elders Lunch is a highlight on the calendar every year with a deadly feed out at Lake Condah Mission. We lucked out with a sunny afternoon featuring music from Woody, special Elders gifts, laughs and plenty of reminiscing.
Our Annual Walk from Lovett’s Lane to Lake Condah Mission allows mob to retrace the steps our Elders took walking in to Heywood from the Mission to do their shopping or to come into town to watch a movie on a Friday night. It’s a deadly opportunity to walk part of the almost 20kms they would walk one way!
The Youth Formal in partnership with Gunditjmara, DWECH and Kirrae, saw us take 20 young people from Heywood, Hamilton and Portland to celebrate. It was incredible to see our young people dressed up, dancing the night away, building connections and making lifelong memories.
Our Community Day capped off a deadly week of activities with a fun afternoon out at Lake Condah Mission. We enjoyed a petting zoo, arts and crafts, market stalls, damper making, music from Michael Ferguson and a chance for some family photos.
A huge thank you to our Community Services team who work so hard every year to put on all of these activities for our mob. It was amazing to be able to celebrate 50 Years of Deadly for NAIDOC and 35 Years of Deadly for Winda-Mara with the mob!
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