During NAIDOC Week DFAT proudly supports Indigenous Australia to showcase their culture to the wider Australian and international community.

The highlight of DFAT's 2018 NAIDOC week celebrations was the inclusion of the highly acclaimed exhibition Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters from the National Museum of Australia (NMA).

This Indigenous-led exhibition, exhibited at NMA between September 2017 and February 2018, is the first of its kind in its attempt to tell an Indigenous founding narrative through using Indigenous ways of passing on knowledge. This knowledge, which is preserved for future generations, is "written in the land" and is a source for learning the spiritual, ecological, cultural and ontological lessons that help new generations to understand their own existence across this vast landscape of Australia.

NMA worked hand-in-hand with senior custodians of Martu country and Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) and Ngaanyatjarra lands of Australia's Central and Western deserts. The groundwork for the exhibition took many years of hard work and included countless road trips, research, consultation and storytelling.

DFAT was privileged to secure some significant pieces from NMA'S major exhibition to display in the department's Atrium for NAIDOC Week celebrations.

At the Secretary's NAIDOC reception, celebrations were amplified further with a performance from the traditional elders and custodian of the Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters.

Video: Celebrating NAIDOC Week 2018

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this film may contain the names and images and voices of deceased people.

Photos: Secretary's NAIDOC reception