Breaking through barriers while building bridges
Justice & Advocacy
“There had never been anything like the Queen Street Mall fashion parade before and to be there compèring the three parades during NAIDOC Week made a huge impact on our community and it helped our young ones to dream big,” says Anglican Church Southern Queensland RAP Coordinator Aunty Sandra King OAM
Being an Aboriginal model back in the 1970s, I needed to break a few barriers that existed in the fashion and model industry. So, having The Telegraph photographer come to my place and take photos in the mid-1970s was very welcoming. The Telegraph was very supportive of me and having my photograph taken back then made a big statement to everybody in the fashion industry.
I have a fond memory of my models doing their first fashion parade in the Queen Street Mall in 1988. I can’t go past that memory — the parade, the models, the fashions and the choreography lifted our community. There had never been anything like the Queen Street Mall fashion parade before and to be there compèring the three parades during NAIDOC Week made a huge impact on our community and it helped our young ones to dream big. The models made a huge impression on our community.
“A Telegraph newspaper photographer came to my place to take photos of me getting ready to celebrate NAIDOC Week. I think this might have been 1977,” Aunty Sandra King OAM
I look at my parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles and their knowledge of their upbringing tells me a lot. Now, as for their parents, well, I’m absolutely gobsmacked at who they were and what they did at a time when the government implemented the first so-called Aboriginals Protection Act in 1897. How they managed to keep their children together and to practice cultural ways says a lot about them.
This year’s 50th anniversary celebration of NAIDOC Week is so important, and the theme is “The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy”. Our Ancestors and Elders bring with them the knowledge and wisdom of the past, and present and help build pathways for the future of our young ones. We cannot move forward without acknowledging our Ancestors and Elders — this is a given.
When I think about my Elders, my mum is one who has particularly inspired me. We have a very big family of 550 people now, and she is the one that keeps our family connected. We have family in Tweed, on the Sunshine Coast, and in Rockhampton, Hervey Bay, Townsville, Cardwell and Cairns and she is the one who keeps in touch with all the family.
She is so culturally informed that I thought that her shoes were too big for me to fill. Although, because of the constant contact with family, her example stays with me, and I am slowly filling her shoes. I am the one who connects all the family, including those who live in New South Wales, Victoria and the Northern Territory.
My mum is also very respectful, honest, caring and loving as person and I hope that she is proud of me.
The most important things I can pass on to young First Nations peoples is to be honest, respectful, caring and loving — my mum’s lessons. Our history has made us frustrated and angry, but also grateful. We must do deep listening to take what our Ancestors and Elders have taught us about culture.
Their legacy is for us and the next generation to learn from, and for us to have a vision of what the future should look like. This is what 2025’s NAIDOC Week theme is all about. Wishing everyone, a happy NAIDOC Week celebration.
Author’s note: The 50th anniversary of NAIDOC Week will be celebrated from Sunday 6 July to Sunday 13 July in 2025. The NAIDOC Week theme this year is “The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy”. Visit the NAIDOC Week website for more information and for educational resources, a “Supporting NAIDOC Toolkit” and posters, as well as to find out what events are happening and how to register your event.
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