NAIDOC 2019 Poster winner announced for Voice. Treaty. Truth theme

Charmaine Mumbulla, a Kaurna and Narungga woman, has won this year’s NAIDOC Poster Competition, with her artwork “Awaken” judged as the piece which best captured the spirit of the 2019 NAIDOC theme: Voice. Treaty. Truth – Let’s work together for a shared future.

Her artwork depicts an early dawn light, rising over Uluru, symbolising continued spiritual and unbroken connection to the land. The circles at the base of Uluru represent the historic gathering in May, 2017, of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, who adopted the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

NAIDOC organisers said that this year, NAIDOC Week invites all Australians to walk in a movement for a better future, through raising a greater national awareness of the three key elements to the reforms set out the the Uluru Statement, which represented a unified position  and specifically sequenced a set of reforms:

• A First Nations voice to Parliament enshrined in the Constitution

• A Makarrata Commission to supervise treaty processes and truth telling.

With 2019 being the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages, NAIDOC 2019 aims to also promote and acknowledge Indigenous languages or ‘voice’ as the first words spoken on this continent and the 65,000 plus year-old voice of Australia.

Committee Co-Chairs, Pat Thompson and John Paul Janke congratulated Ms Mumbulla on her winning entry, thanking all those who submitted their work for consideration in this year’s competition, making judging a winner a difficult task. Nearly 200 entries were received from around Australia, ranging from school children and emerging artists to those more established.

Ms Mumbulla said that she hoped her artwork plays an important part in a national discussion towards the proper recognition of Aboriginal and Torre Strait Islander people in this country.

“I’m really pleased about this year’s NAIDOC theme and hope that it continues our national discussion on a treaty – I feel honoured to become a small part of NAIDOC history,” she said.

Ms Mumbulla will have her artwork displayed on the 2019 National NAIDOC Poster and receives a $10,000 prize. With over 100,000 posters printed, the National NAIDOC posters are distributed across the country from schools, kindergartens and universities to Government Departments, corporates and shopping centres.

Ms Mumbella’s work will also feature on the front cover of NAIDOC Week education resources being produced by the Special Broadcasting Service Corporation (SBS). These resources will be available nationally in early June as printed resources and accompanied by an online suite of materials via the SBS Learn website.

The NAIDOC week poster has been available since the late 1960s, rising to prominence in the 1970s when the Indigenous Rights Movement was established. Free copies of the poster are available through the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s regional network.

To download a digital copy, or to learn more about this year’s artwork, please see here.