In the first week of July, Monadelphous came together across our operations and offices to celebrate NAIDOC Week 2023. Through cultural immersion sessions, Welcome to Country ceremonies, art exhibitions and listening and learning, we celebrated the rich and diverse culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – the oldest living culture in the world.
To start the week, we sponsored the Victoria Park Centre for Arts (VPCA) NAIDOC exhibition in Perth, Western Australia (WA). Artwork painted by the Dimer family travelled all the way from Bush Blossoms Gallery in Kalgoorlie, WA, to be displayed in our Perth office.
Jeremy Blank, Director of VPCA, expressed his appreciation for Monadelphous' support, saying it enabled VPCA to promote the exhibition on a larger scale.
"Having the support of Monadelphous is crucial to us. It allows us to courier artwork from regional areas, share it with the local community, and promote it to diverse audiences," Jeremy said.
Following the artwork unveiling, our teams gathered for morning tea and Welcome to Country ceremonies, performed in Brisbane by Shannon Ruska, an Australian Aboriginal Cultural delivery specialist, and in Perth by the Binjareb Middars, a traditional dance performance group. The experience was thoroughly enjoyed by everyone involved.
Guided by this year's theme, For Our Elders, we also had the honour of hosting Uncle John Alexander and Bill Dempsey, survivors of the Stolen Generation, who ran cultural immersion sessions. Bill and John shared their incredible stories of separation from their families and disconnect from their culture and heritage, providing invaluable insight and understanding to our teams.
“It was the most impactful thing I have ever heard during my five years at Monadelphous. I cannot rate the experience and perspective it gave me highly enough," one attendee commented.
Across Monadelphous' operations and onsite, our teams came together in various ways, from barbeques and morning teas to cultural sessions and engaging activities with customers.
Bruce Ewen, Site Superintendent at Cape Lambert, had the honour of transporting distinguished Elders to site for a flag raising ceremony. He later shared that it filled him with a great sense of pride to participate in the service.
NAIDOC Week holds significant importance in the Monadelphous calendar as we work towards our vision for reconciliation, and we place great value in celebrating and acknowledging it. Since launching our Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan 2022-2025 during NAIDOC Week last year, we have remained committed to our reconciliation journey and will continue to influence meaningful positive change into the future.
For more information about our RAP, please contact RAP@monadel.com.au.