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.
The Roxby Downs team connected with Oodnadatta Aboriginal School, to get the students to paint a Monadelphous shipping container aligned with the NAIDOC Week theme, For Our Elders.
“We are very proud of the artwork the students designed and painted. The whole community were very interested in the initiative with many people coming to the school to see it for themselves.” Delia Farlam, teacher at Oodnadatta said.
The shipping container will be returned to Monadelphous Roxby Downs workshop to be utilised by the team.
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.