On 9 July 1975, R.J. Denham, Secretary of the Commonwealth Council NADOC, wrote to The King Island News: “Sir — National Aborigines Day has been celebrated throughout Australia over the last nineteen years. It has gained significance as the day on which Aboriginal people declare their identity and remind the world of the major contribution they have made to Australian culture...We feel strongly that this day is a newsworthy happening and would be pleased if you can find time, space or room, to give it the mention it deserves.”

The National Aborigines Day Observance Committee, or NADOC, was the forerunner of NAIDOC. Initially, Aborigines Day was held on the anniversary of the 1938 Day of Mourning on 26 January. In 1955, the Committee moved the event to the first Sunday in July for it to become a celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and resistance, rather than being a protest in response to Australia Day (26 January). NAIDOC has been entirely Indigenous led since 1974, and in 1975, it was celebrated for the first time as a week-long event. 

A copy of the 1975 poster is held in the National Library of Australia collection and can be viewed in the 1975: Living in the Seventies virtual exhibition tour. It is one of the only known copies held in a public collection. 

Designed by an unknown artist, Just This? — Or Justice: National Aborigines Week, 1975, https://catalogue.nla.gov.au/catalog/3044575

Each year, NAIDOC celebrations are centred around a different theme, and in 1975, the theme was ‘Justice for Urban Aboriginal Children’. 

The poster features a photo of Murawina (meaning ‘black woman’), which was a Redfern-based program that provided children with breakfast before school that became a childcare centre and women’s hostel in 1973. Murawina was established, nurtured and supported by a community of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, including Wiradjuri sisters Norma Ingram and Millie Ingram who were the first Director and Coordinator of Murawina respectively. 

The philosophy of Murawina was to prepare children for the schooling system and build their self-esteem by instilling pride in their heritage — all in a safe and secure environment. Culture and language were integrated into the curriculum. For example, educational resources, such as the Murawina Readers, were developed to reflect the children and their lived experiences. Six readers, titled My Family, Karen’s Family, In our House, At Pre-school, At the Park and Jobs, can be found in the National Library collection. 

In his letter to The King Island News, Denham describes Murawina as “a valuable breakfast program [that] has been hampered by lack of funds and equipment”. In the early years, the Wayside Chapel at Kings Cross provided Murawina with money and a vehicle so children could be dropped off in time for breakfast. When the Wayside Chapel could no longer support the program, the women of Murawina appealed for subsequent funding. In 1973, after applying for a government grant of $55,000, they received $1,000 from Macquarie University and $21,000 from the Federal Government. 

Driven by the determination of the women behind Murawina, the program continued to grow. When interviewed in July 1975 for Tharunka, Norma Ingram reported that they had begun with a cohort of 12 children and now had 98 children enrolled and 48 children physically in the centre. 

After experiencing years of pushback from local residents, in 1978 Murawina broke ground on a block of land on Eveleigh Street, Redfern, when construction commenced of a new building with space for a pre-school and hostel. This moment was recorded by Film Australia for an episode of Our Multicultural Society, which is held in the National Film and Sound Archive’s collection.

NAIDOC is an independent voluntary committee who receive funding from the Federal Government’s National Indigenous Australians Agency. The Committee is also supported by a Secretariat, which sits within the NIAA’s Culture and Empowerment Branch. The National Library was proud to gift the NIAA a digital and physical copy of the 1975 poster for display in the NAIDOC poster gallery and the NAIDOC Reading Room in Charles Perkins House, Canberra.

Currently, the artist and photographer who created this poster are unknown. We would be delighted to learn more about this important collection item. If you have any information, please reach out to the National Library’s exhibitions team at exhibitions@nla.gov.au.