10/07/2026
NAIDOC Week
This week at Mandalay ELC we celebrated NAIDOC Week, with the theme ‘50 Years of Deadly.’ The 2026 theme marks a major milestone, commemorating half a century since NAIDOC first became an official week- long event in 1975, honouring Indigenous resilience, leadership, and cultural continuity.
To celebrate here at the service we participated in ‘Morning Tea for Culture’ organised through the Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency, with all classrooms baking some yummy treats. These included lemon myrtle biscuits, strawberry gum damper, lamingtons and yoghurt cups, with all monies raised donated to V***A. We also held a staff morning tea today for our educators to enjoy.
As well as classroom activities and experiences that educated the children about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, we had a special visit from one of our parents, who discussed their culture, shared cultural artefacts such as clapping sticks and boomerangs and engaged in some traditional dancing with the children.
Our Pre-Prep children created a wonderful story blanket, incorporating their personal artwork that was then sewn together, this is being displayed proudly in our hallway.
We had a fantastic week celebrating and exploring Indigenous culture and thank all parents who donated and enjoyed our yummy treats!
