Iconic Australian musician Archie Roach and Australia’s first Indigenous consul-general appointed to the US, Benson Igua Saulo, are part of the extraordinary NAIDOC 2020 celebrations by NSW Department Education.

Starting Monday, schools across NSW will mark national NAIDOC Week, which was postponed during the pandemic from its original July date to 8-15 November.

With its theme, Always Was, Always Will Be, NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace the true history of this country – a history that dates back thousands of generations.

Department of Education Secretary Mark Scott, who will take part in the opening ceremony that will be live streamed from 9am on Monday, 9 November, said NAIDOC Week was an important celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history.

“It is an opportunity to recognise the contributions Aboriginal and Islander people make to our country and our society,” he said.

“All Australians should celebrate that we have the world’s oldest stories and that our First People engraved the world’s first maps, made the first and earliest paintings of ceremonies and invented unique technologies and built and engineered structures that pre-date the Egyptian pyramids and Stonehenge.”

Karen Jones, Executive Director Aboriginal Outcomes and Partnerships, said schools will be able to celebrate NAIDOC Week in partnership with their local communities, and learn from their local Aboriginal Elders and Aboriginal community members.

The official events of the week include a livestream interview with Mr Saulo, a Wemba Wemba, Jardwadjali, Weregia and Gunditjmara man, who will be Australian consul-general in Houston, Texas.

The Tamworth man will be interviewed by students from his former school Peel High School and Tamworth High School.

On Thursday Uncle Michael Jarrett will deliver a Gumbaynggirr language lesson virtually.

Closing off the week’s event, award-winning musician Archie Roach will perform his classic songs ‘Took the children away’ and ‘The children came back’ with students from Woronora River, Prestons and Leichhardt public schools and Northern Beaches Secondary School and Evans High School.

You can join the virtual celebration via video streams hosted by Aboriginal Outcomes and Partnerships, each weekday morning from 9am, during NAIDOC Week.