Reflection on NAIDOC Week 2025

• NAIDOC Week (National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee) celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians all over the country and overseas.

Everywhere we look in the landscapes we live and work upon, including Noongar Country, Wiradjuri Country, Wurundjeri Country and Gadigal Country, we witness the knowledge and stewardship of First Nations people over uncountable thousands of years.

While often artefacts such as middens and rock carvings and scar trees are the obvious evidence of culture, it is also the ecosystems, the waterways, the animals and plants that are also part of the living relationship between people and Country that has been nurtured through millennia.

This NAIDOC Week, we’re reflecting on how critical it is for our work with clients to support protection and regeneration of Country. We also continue to learn from the ways of stewardship and respect taught by Elders and consider how that can inform our practices and projects.

For example, healing Country and becoming more thoughtful in how urban places are designed, delivered and maintained is critical for the viability of the environment. And the viability of the environment is itself fundamental in rectifying the harms of the past and create a shared future where young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can flourish and become the leaders of the future.

This is an opportunity to learn, listen and celebrate the world’s oldest continuous human culture. And every week is an opportunity to put the learning to work in both our professional and personal lives with respect, recognition and gratitude.