Days of Interest
| 26 January | Survival Day / Invasion Day / Australia Day |
This date marks the landing of the First Fleet in Sydney Cove. In 1938, on the 150th anniversary of this landing, a ‘Day of Mourning’ was organised-principally by William Cooper (who had founded the Australian Aboriginal League in Melbourne and drafted a petition of Aboriginal grievance which the Government refused to pass on to King George V) and William Ferguson (leader of the NSW-based Aborigines Progress Association). For the protest Ferguson and J. P. Patten wrote a manifesto entitled Aborigines Claim Citizenship Rights in which they appealed for a new Aboriginal policy, full citizenship status, equality and land rights. The manifesto opened with: ‘This festival of 150 years’ socalled “progress” in Australia commemorates also 150 years of misery and degradation imposed on the original native inhabitants by white invaders of this country’. |
| 20 February | National Pancake Day | For community awareness of poverty & disadvantage. www.pancakeday.com.au |
| 8 March | International Women’s Day | The theme for activities to celebrate International Women’s Day for 2008 is ‘100 years of active women in paid and unpaid work’. www.women.nsw.gov.au |
| 21 March | Harmony Day (for the elimination of racial discrimination) | This date coincides with United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and was first commemorated in 1999 as a day to encourage tolerance and understanding between Australians of all races and cultural backgrounds. |
| 5-13 April | National Youth Week Commences | National Youth Week (NYW) is Australia’s largest celebration of young people. www.youthweek.com |
| 12-18 May | National Volunteer Week Commences | The theme for National Volunteer Week 2008 is ‘Volunteers change our world’. The purpose of the week will focus upon thanks and recognition of volunteers. www.volunteeringaustralia.org |
| 15 May | International Day of Families | www.un.org/esa/socdev/family |
| 26 May | National Sorry Day | Sorry Day was launched on 26 May 1988. Australians of all ethnicities came together in their thousands to events in cities, towns and rural centres across the country, to express their sorrow, and offer their apologies, for the harm done to Aboriginal people. www.nsdc.org.au |
| 27 May | National Reconciliation Week Commences/ 1967 Referendum Anniversary | In 1967 over 90% of Australians voted in a Referendum to remove clauses from the Australian Constitution, which discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. National Reconciliation Week is a time for us to renew our commitment to reconciliation and to think about how we can help turn around the continuing disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. www.reconciliation.org.au |
| 3 June | Mabo Day | This day commemorates the anniversary of the 1992 High Court decision in the case brought by Eddie Mabo and others, which recognised the existence in Australia of native title rights. On the 10th anniversary of this day in 2002 there were many calls for the day to become a public holiday, an official National Mabo Day. |
| 5 June | World Environment Day | World Environment Day was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972. www.unep.org |
| 22-28 June | Drug Action Week Commences | Drug Action Week®, an initiative of the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA), is a national week of activities to raise awareness about alcohol and other drug issues and to promote the achievements of those who work to reduce drug related harm. The week also aims to promote public debate about good practice strategies for reducing drug related harm. www.drugactionweek.org.au |
| 6-13 July | NAIDOC Week | This week grew out of the National Aborigines Day. The week became a time to celebrate the survival of Indigenous people, to increase awareness of Indigenous heritage, to recognise the Indigenous contribution to the national identity and to articulate the continuing need for justice and equity. In 1988 NADOC became known as NAIDOC to include Islanders and the day became National Aboriginal and Islander Day. |
| 15-20 July | World Youth Day | Organised by the Catholic Church, World Youth Day gathers young people from around the world to build bridges of friendship and hope between continents, peoples and cultures. World Youth Day is the largest youth event in the world and will be held in Sydney in 2008. www.wyd2008.org |
| 4 August | National Aboriginal Islander Children’s Day | Celebrated on the 4th of August each year by all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations, mainstream child and family welfare services, government agencies, schools, preschools, child care services and any organisations with an interest in children. www.snaicc.asn.au |
| 6 August | National Homeless Persons Week Commences | National Homeless Persons’ Week highlights the plight faced by thousands of homeless Australians due to social and economic costs to individuals, families, communities and our nation. Every night in Australia, 100,000 people are homeless – half of these people are under 25. |
| 9 August | International Day of the World’s Indigenous People | International Day of the World’s Indigenous People allows all of us to acknowledge the incredible achievements of an estimated 370 million Indigenous Peoples world wide. www.hreoc.gov.au |
| 12 August | International Youth Day | www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/iyouthday.htm |
| 8 September | International Literacy Day | Literacy is a cause for celebration since there are now close to four billion literate people in the world. www.un.org/Depts/dhl/literacy/ |
| 2-8 September | National Child Protection Week | The National Association for Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, (NAPCAN) works with professionals and practitioners to develop strategies for the prevention of Child abuse and neglect, to assist parents and carers in best practice for parenting, and to inspire all Australians, through our social change initiative: Child Friendly Australia, to take responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of children by making local communities child friendly. www.napcan.org.au |
| 10 September | World Suicide Prevention Day | The International Association of Suicide Prevention is dedicated to preventing suicidal behaviour, to alleviate its effects, and to provide a forum for academics, mental health professionals, crisis workers, volunteers and suicide survivors. www.med.uio.no/iasp/ |
| September | Croc Fest (Croc Eisteddfod) | 16–18 September North Coast 23–25 September Central West Croc Festival® is an innovative performing arts and educational programme for primary and high school students in regional and remote communities around Australia. Indigenous youth in particular are the nation’s greatest untapped asset. Australia and the world have seen what Indigenous people can do in sports and the arts. But nobody yet knows what else Indigenous people can do if they get the opportunity. That is what the Croc Festival® is about. Not just for Indigenous youth, but for all young Australians – to be the best they can be, gain meaningful employment, contribute to their community and live fulfilling lives. |
| 21 September | The Deadly Awards | Since 1995, Vibe Australia has hosted the Deadly Sounds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Music, Sport, Entertainment and Community Awards (aka the ‘Deadlys’). www.deadlys.vibe.com.au |
| 21 September | International Day of Peace | This is a day for worldwide movement to create a Global Ceasefire and day of peace and non-violence. www.internationaldayofpeace.org |
| October | NSW Rugby League Knockout | For the NSW Aboriginal community, the Knockout is the biggest event of the year attracting up to 60 teams and many thousands of Aboriginal spectators. www.knockout.net.au |
| 10 October | World Mental Health Day | World Mental Health Day first started in 1992. The goals through the World Federation for Mental health are to heighten public awareness about the importance of mental health and to improve attitudes to people who are affected by mental disorders. www.wfmh.org |
| 11 October | Kidsafe Day | National Kidsafe Day is an annual awareness raising day aimed at raising the communities’ awareness of the leading causes of unintentional injuries to children less than 15 years of age, and ways to prevent them. www.kidsafe.com.au |
| 20 October | World YWCA Day Without Violence | www.ywca.org.au/projects/weekwithoutviolence.php |
| 25 November | International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women/White Ribbon Day | White Ribbon Day was created by a handful of Canadian men in 1991 on the second anniversary of one man’s massacre of fourteen women in Montreal. They began the White Ribbon Campaign to urge men to speak out against violence against women. In 1999, the United Nations General Assembly declared November 25 the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (IDEVAW) and the White Ribbon has become the symbol for the day. www.whiteribbonday.org.au |
| 10 December | Human Rights Day | Human Rights Day was established in 1950 and is celebrated around the world on 10 December each year to honour the United Nations General Assembly’s adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the first global enunciation of human rights, which took place on 10 December 1948. www.hreoc.gov.au |