General News
12 June, 2026
Local NAIDOC Week event draws closer as Maryborough prepares to mark 15th year
Maryborough’s NAIDOC event will return to the grounds at Maryborough Pony Club later this month as the Central Goldfields marks the national campaign at the much loved community event.
Now in its third year at the Maryborough Pony Club, the rapidly growing event features a day of live performances, hands on cultural activities, community stalls and experiences designed to bring people together and celebrate First Nations culture.
The event is coordinated by Maryborough’s NAIDOC committee, led by Asteria Services, and is supported by organisations and community groups across the Central Goldfields region.
Asteria’s Michelle Rafferty, also Mary-borough’s NAIDOC committee chair, has seen the event expand to include valuable education experiences in recent years.
“It’s not just about the one day, there’s education at schools ... the event has resulted in trips to dreamtime matches at the football, there is a lot of learning that comes out of this day,” she said.
Earlier this year, the national NAIDOC committee declared this year’s theme, “50 Years of Deadly”, marking five decades of the events now known as NAIDOC week.
However, NAIDOC history dates as far back as the 1930s.
A result of the Day of Mourning in January 1938, protests gradually became an annual event throughout Australia. By 1955, the event was moved to the first Sunday in July to become a celebration of Aboriginal culture, as opposed to protest.
At this time, NAIDOC was formed (becoming National Aboriginal Day Observance Committee). By 1976, they decided celebrations should last nationally for a whole week.
Maryborough’s first NAIDOC week event took place in 2011, with cultural ceremonies followed by music and dancing within Mary-borough’s Anglican Hall.
Ms Rafferty has overseen the event’s rapid expansion since then.
“We have been doing it for 15 years now ... every year since then it got better. More entertainment, more activities, more people partner with us even schools in Timor, Talbot, Carisbrook, local kinder-gartens and childcare centres,” she said.
Maryborough Pony Club’s Linda Gerring said the events have been an opportunity to highlight the presence of local Indigenous culture.
“It’s amazing when you come to NAIDOC and you see what’s going on. For a lot of people, they are not aware of what our Indigenous heritage is in our community but it is a valuable part of who we are in this region,” she said.
“Not just across Australia, but especially the Central Goldfields. There are a lot of elders that contribute to the community. It’s important to have that awareness, to see little kids coming through, children in childcare all the way up to senior citizens.
“People building an under-standing of the Indigenous culture we have.”
Last year’s event even resulted in Ms Rafferty taking home Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative’s NAIDOC award.
“Michelle is the driving force, she’s the chair of the committee that organises it, but she has been with it from the very start, a valuable contributor,” Ms Gerring said.
“It just grows every year.”
Other partnering organisations include The Salvation Army, the Bendigo and District Aboriginal Co-operative, The First People’s Assembly of Victoria, Rotary, Central Goldfields Shire Council and Bendigo Bank.
Taking place on Thursday, June 25, from 10 am to 2 pm, the event is free.
NAIDOC week will nationally run this year from Sunday, July 5 to Sunday, July 12.
Ms Rafferty is advising any community groups that wish to partner with the event are encouraged to contact her on 0450 158 670.