NAIDOC Week 2009: Celebrating Australia's indigenous heritage

MANILA, Philippines - NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia and at Australia’s diplomatic missions around the world each July to honor the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

This year’s celebrations in Manila will include a morning tea to hand over Australian Government-funded indigenized educational materials to Dananao Elementary School in Kalinga Province. The teaching and learning materials were produced under the ‘Indigenizing Education in a Kalinga Public School’ project headed by the Ateneo Center for Educational Development and supported by Volunteers for International Development from Australia.

The Embassy will also hold a series of short film screenings to showcase Australian indigenous culture, filmmakers and actors. Screenings will be held at the University of Asia and the Pacific (July 15 and 29).

Australia’s development assistance program continues to help promote indigenous culture in the Philippines. The Institute for Indigenous People Education (IIPE) established under the auspices of the Basic Education Assistance for Mindanao (BEAM) program in 2004 has benefited more than 34,000 students and 800 teachers in Mindanao through the implementation of an indigenised curriculum.