Australia is in the midst of celebrating NAIDOC Week, which can trace its origins back to the 20th century. 

While the week is now used as a celebration of the world’s oldest continuous culture, NAIDOC Committee Co-Chair John Paul Janke told Sofie Formica it began as “a day of protest to highlight the aspirations of Aboriginal people”.

“NAIDOC Week’s origins go back to probably the turn of the century, around the 1920s, with a few Aboriginal groups really lobbying and advocating for some significant change to the treatment of Aboriginal people.

“Around that time, Aboriginal people around Australia were restricted to missions and reserves.

“They were on the fringes of the town, they were guided by very restrictive and discriminatory government policy, state and territory government policy.”

Press PLAY below to hear John Paul Janke describe NAIDOC as it continued through the 20th century

Image: Getty