NAIDOC Week 2025: What Is NAIDOC Week and How to Celebrate 50 Years of Strength, Vision & Legacy Through the Budyabudya's Story
A journey of transformation, cultural wisdom, and chocolate that honours the next generation
When Is NAIDOC Week 2025: Fifty Years of Celebration
This July marks a momentous milestone—the 50th anniversary of NAIDOC Week celebrations. NAIDOC Week 2025 runs from 6-13 July 2025, when Australia will unite under the powerful theme "The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy", celebrating both the achievements of the past and the bright future ahead.
This theme invites all Australians to reflect on the legacy of our Ancestors, the strength found in young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, and the vision of Communities moving forward as the world's oldest continuing culture.
What Is NAIDOC Week: Understanding Australia's Largest Indigenous Celebration
NAIDOC Week is Australia's largest celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. From its origins as the Day of Mourning in 1938 to becoming a week-long national celebration, NAIDOC Week has grown into a powerful movement that honours Indigenous voices, culture, and resilience.
Understanding what NAIDOC Week represents helps all Australians participate meaningfully in this significant cultural celebration that spans communities nationwide.
Voices from the Heart: NAIDOC Committee Elders Speak
The wisdom behind this year's NAIDOC Week theme comes from the voices of our Elders and leaders who guide NAIDOC's vision:
Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy reminds us: "National NAIDOC Week continues to be Australia's largest celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and this year we celebrate a milestone 50 years of honouring and elevating Indigenous voices, culture and resilience, through a week of activities."
National NAIDOC Committee Co-Chair, Aunty (Professor) Lynette Riley reflects: "Guided by the wisdom of our Elders and the groundwork laid by our forebears, each NAIDOC Week reinforces our vision for an Australia where Indigenous voices are not only heard but lead the way."
National NAIDOC Committee Co-Chair, Steven Satour beautifully captures the essence: "This NAIDOC Week, we celebrate not just a milestone but a movement that endures, grows, and evolves - driven by the unwavering strength of our communities, the shared vision of our people, and the enduring legacy we pass on to those who will shape our future."
Official Artwork: "Ancestral Lines"
Jeremy Morgan Worrall, a proud Ngarabal/Gomeroi man, created this year's official NAIDOC artwork.
"Ancestral Lines is a visual tribute to the enduring ties that connect generations through story, song, and survival," Jeremy explains. "Each figure carries lines like songlines—symbols of knowledge, identity, and legacy. These threads intertwine, showing how knowledge is passed down and reshaped across generations."
Set against the landscape of Tenterfield, Jeremy's artwork shows the next generation finding "their voice, vision, and legacy" around the fire—perfectly mirroring our budyabudya story of cultural wisdom flowing between generations.
NAIDOC Week Activities: How to Celebrate and Get Involved
Here are meaningful NAIDOC Week activities to participate in:
- Attend NAIDOC Week Events: Many communities and organisations will be hosting events, including family fun days with flag raising ceremonies, cultural performances, workshops, and cultural activities.
- Learn about Indigenous Culture: Read stories of Dreaming, poetry and literature, or watch documentaries about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories.
- Explore Local Indigenous Sites: Visit museums, art galleries, and places of significance to learn about the rich history and culture of the area.
- Engage in Art and Craft: Participate in weaving workshops or try your hand at dot painting or rock painting.
- Invite Elders and First Nations People to Speak: Invite Elders to speak at your school or workplace, or host a Welcome to Country ceremony.
- Celebrate with Music and Dance: Enjoy performances by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians and dancers.
- Support Local Indigenous Businesses: Shop at markets and cultural centres, and enjoy meals at local restaurants and cafes.
- Engage in Discussions and Conversations: Talk about the NAIDOC Week theme, learn about the history of NAIDOC Week, and participate in discussions about it.
- Use Educational Resources: Utilise the official NAIDOC Week resources to learn about NAIDOC Week and its theme, and Riley Callie Resources & Koori Curriculum's NAIDOC Week 2025 collections.
The Budyabudya's Story: Waynha - Transformation Through Cultural Wisdom
As a proud Wiradyuri woman and founder of Australia's first Indigenous chocolate business, Chocolate On Purpose, I see this year's NAIDOC theme as a beautiful continuation of the journey we began during Reconciliation Week with the theme "Bridging Now to Next." To me, both themes speak to Waynha—the Wiradyuri word for transformation.
From Reconciliation to Celebration
While, from my perspective, Reconciliation Week calls our Allies to learning and awareness, NAIDOC Week is time for celebration and recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander journeys and achievements. Both are connected by the same truth: we are a people who have transformed through adversity and emerged stronger.
60,000 Years of Unbroken Stories
Our wisdom flows like ancient rivers—from Ancestors to Elders, Adults to Children. For over 60,000 years, we have gathered at Meeting Places, guided by the sun, stars, rainbows and songlines, wrapped in the warmth of Possum Skin Cloaks, sharing the knowledge that keeps us alive as the world's oldest continuing Culture.
Just as the budyabudya (butterfly) shares story as it pollinates native flowers, we have shared cultural wisdom from generation to generation. Each act of pollination enriches the flower, just as each story shared enriches the next generation, keeping our Culture vibrantly alive.
Through colonisation, genocidal policies, and ongoing racism, we showed the same bravery as the budyabudya in its chrysalis. We transformed. We endured. We thrived.
The Chocolate Budyabudya: Stories in Every Wing
This NAIDOC Week, our chocolate budyabudya carries forward this ancient story of transformation through Aboriginal iconography embedded in their wings:
Elders teaching Children - the transfer of wisdom
Footprints - our 60,000+ year journey on Country
Sun, stars, and rainbow - our traditional guides
Meeting places - where knowledge flows between generations
Shields - representing our bravery through adversity
Children - the carriers of our Legacy, Strength, and Vision
Three Sacred Flavours, Three Stories
Each budyabudya carries the essence of Country through native botanicals sourced from Aboriginal growers:
White Chocolate with Ooray (Davidson Plum) - Ooray means "Queen" in Bundjalung language, reflecting how prized this fruit was for its healing properties and sweet-tart flavour.
Milk Chocolate with Daguba (Riberry) - Daguba in Dharawal language, this "Medicine Berry" was traditionally used by mothers to ease children's earaches while providing a sweet treat.
Dark Chocolate with Gulalung (Finger Lime) - Gulalung in Bundjalung language represents this luxurious fruit traditionally used to heal cuts and wounds, with lime caviar that bursts with zesty citrus flavour.
NAIDOC Week 2025: Why Your Purchase Powers Transformation
For Corporate Leaders
Meaningful Recognition: Your NAIDOC Week gifts demonstrate genuine commitment to reconciliation and cultural awareness. Each budyabudya tells a 60,000-year story while supporting contemporary Indigenous business growth.
Supply Nation Impact: Support a certified Indigenous business that creates employment for Aboriginal women aged 45+—a demographic at highest risk of homelessness and social exclusion.
Authentic Storytelling: Use these gifts as conversation starters about cultural knowledge transfer, resilience, and the strength of the next generation.
For Retail Customers
Cultural Connection: Own a piece of living culture that honours the world's oldest continuing traditions while celebrating contemporary Indigenous innovation.
Ethical Impact: Every purchase strengthens Aboriginal-led supply chains, empowers Indigenous botanical growers, and preserves cultural knowledge systems.
Premium Quality: Belgian couverture chocolate meets ancient native botanicals in a fusion that's both delicious and meaningful.
For Educational Settings
Teaching Tools: Each budyabudya becomes a lesson in cultural resilience, transformation, and the importance of knowledge transfer between generations.
Cultural Awareness: Perfect for NAIDOC Week celebrations, cultural awareness programs, and recognition events that honour Indigenous achievement.
The Ripple Effect of Your Choice
When you choose our NAIDOC Week budyabudya collection, you're not just purchasing chocolate—you're participating in a movement that:
- Empowers Aboriginal women to reclaim their traditional plant-knowledge systems
- Strengthens Indigenous supply chains worth over \$100 million annually
- Preserves cultural knowledge for future generations
- Creates meaningful employment in regional NSW
- Celebrates transformation from adversity to strength
A Gift That Keeps Giving
Each budyabudya carries forward the wisdom of our Ancestors while nurturing the vision of our next generation. Like the butterfly pollinating flowers, your purchase enriches our community, ensuring our stories continue to thrive.
Ready to Be Part of the Story?
This NAIDOC Week, join us in celebrating 50 years of strength, vision, and legacy. Let the budyabudya carry your message of support for Indigenous Culture, business, and the next generation of leaders.
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Mandaang Guwu (Thank You) for being part of our transformation story.