Riverside Primary School students, teachers and family members came together on Friday to celebrate Noongar culture and language ahead of NAIDOC Week.
The school held a kangaroo sausage sizzle before the students got a visit from Aboriginal singer and Noongar language advocate Gina Williams and her performing partner Guy Ghouse.
Ms Williams and Mr Ghouse performed in front of the students and taught them words in Noongar language before singing Ms William’s famous song Wanjoo, Welcome Song, together.
They told attendees about Aboriginal culture, traditional stories and the contribution of Australia’s indigenous people in World War II.
Ms William won this year’s Aboriginal Category West Australian of the Year award for her contribution to Noongar culture and her commitment to preserving its language.
She also won Indigenous Act of the Year at the WA Music Industry Awards in 2004, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016.
The 2017 NAIDOC Week theme is Our Languages Matter, which hopes to highlight the importance, resilience and richness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.
This year’s NAIDOC events will emphasise and celebrate the unique and essential role that indigenous languages play in cultural identity, linking people to their land, and in the transmission of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, spirituality and rites.
NAIDOC Week will be officially held across the country from July 2 to 9.