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Celebrating NAIDOC Week: Your essential guide to Indigenous events in Australia – and how to include a Discover Aboriginal Experiences adventure

Held over a week in July each year (in 2025, 6-13 July), this year’s NAIDOC Week marks 50 years of celebrating the history, cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This year's theme, The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy, celebrates achievements of the past and the bright future ahead.

What better way to mark the occasion than by booking one of the exceptional Aboriginal-guided tours offered through the Discover Aboriginal Experiences (DAE) collective. These immersive experiences offer a meaningful way to connect with Country, culture and community, all year round.

There are plenty of other ways to celebrate too – from nationwide art fairs and cultural festivals to powerful music performances and awe-inspiring light shows. Consider this your essential guide to Indigenous events across Australia, with suggestions for memorable DAE adventures to add to your journey.

JANUARY

Putalina Festival: In the southeast of Tasmania, Oyster Cove / putalina is a significant Indigenous historic site, home to an ex-convict government settlement that once housed – by forced residency – an Aboriginal community previously incarcerated at Wybalenna on Flinders Island. The festival makes a sad place one of celebration via music, cultural performances and workshops. 

While you’re here: Lace up your hiking shoes for the stunning four-day wukalina Walk.

Yabun Festival (26 January): This Sydney event is the largest single-day gathering that recognises Indigenous Australian culture. Artists from across the country come to showcase their skills, resulting in a jam-packed day of education and entertainment.

While you’re here: Head to The Rocks for a Dreamtime Southern X walking tour.

FEBRUARY

Adelaide Festival: Inclusivity, creativity, sustainability and trust are the fundamental principles of this major cultural celebration in Adelaide, which has a dedicated curation of First Nations performances, whether theatre, music or dance.

While you’re here: Explore Adelaide’s Botanic Garden with an Aboriginal guide with Southern Cultural Immersion.

Perth Festival: This not-for-profit spotlights the oldest living cultures in the world by championing rich Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions and contemporary arts practice.  

While you’re here: Discover bush tucker and ancient stories in Kings Park with In Culture Tours.

MARCH

Ten Days on the Island: Take a deep dive into Tasmanian cultural identity through transformative art experiences that are as innovative as they are educational. This biennial event is the only one of its kind to unite the state, with a strong focus on Aboriginal heritage.

While you’re here: Lace up your hiking shoes for the stunning four-day wukalina Walk.

APRIL

Heritage Festival: This event in Canberra and surrounds is dedicated to empowering younger Indigenous generations, inspiring them to become Custodians of culture and tradition through storytelling and performance art.

While you’re here: Head 200 kilometres south to Narooma on the coast for a two-night Yuin Retreat with Ngaran Ngaran Culture Awareness.

Parrtjima – A Festival of Light: For 10 nights the MacDonnell Ranges outside Alice Springs are set aglow with illuminated Aboriginal artworks, light shows and a program of performances, interactive workshops, music and talks.

Kimberley Blak Pride Festival (April/May): The Kimberley region’s SBLGBTIQA+ community unites in Broome with friends and family during this epic celebration of culture.

While you’re here: Get your feet wet in the mangroves while learning about Indigenous Broome culture on a Narlijia Experiences tour.

Boorloo Heritage Festival (April): A month-long homage to Perth's Noongar, colonial and multicultural history and heritage via walks, talks, exhibitions and performances.

While you’re here: Venture just north of Perth to take a deep dive into bush tucker on a Dale Tilbrook Experiences outing.

Uluru Festival: This epic festival includes Inma (traditional songs and dances from the region) as well as demonstrations of Aboriginal painting, wood sculpting and bush plants and medicines. Indigenous creatives from around Australia descend to be part of the action.

While you’re here: Sit down to a memorable meal inspired by native produce at Voyages Indigenous Tourism Australia’s Tali Wiru dining experience.

Boomerang Festival: Held as part of the Byron Bay Bluesfest, this event invites participants to discover the instruments, dances and songs of Australia’s Indigenous people over three days of performances and workshops.

While you’re here: It’s just an hour north to Burleigh Heads on the Gold Coast, where Jellurgal Aboriginal Cultural Centre offers guided tours around a sacred mountain.

MAY

National Reconciliation Week (May 27 to June 3): This week celebrates two important milestones: the 1967 Referendum and the Mabo High Court decision, which are both significant in the reconciliation journey, with events and workshops across the country. 

Yirramboi Festival: This international arts festival held in Melbourne is designed to challenge perceptions of culture, race, truth, identity and unity through forward-thinking Indigenous performances and workshops.

While you’re here: Stop past the Koorie Heritage Trust to view the exceptional art collection or take a guided tour along the Yarra River.

Taste of Kakadu: A food experience unlike any other, this event provides visitors to Kakadu National Park with the opportunity to sample the unique flavours of the region and learn about Indigenous cooking practices.

While you’re here: Join an eye-opening Yellow Water cruise with Kakadu Tourism to learn about flora and fauna through an Indigenous lens.

JUNE

Cooktown Discovery Festival: Located north of Cairns, Cooktown is a breathtakingly beautiful, and still unspoilt, pocket of the Cape York Peninsula. European and Indigenous cultures met here back in 1770 – it’s on these grounds that the Cooktown Discovery Festival takes place, sharing the settlement story through music, dance and food. Participate in art classes, watch reconciliation re-enactments, browse the village markets, learn about Indigenous culture on a cruise, or just watch the event’s culminating street parade.

National Indigenous Art Fair: Indigenous creatives from communities around Australia tell their stories through both traditional works (like dot painting) and contemporary interpretations. This is your chance to meet the makers and purchase art, ethically, while in Sydney.

While you’re here: Get a taste for native flora and Indigenous history on an Aboriginal-guided walk around the Royal Botanic Garden Sydney.

Barunga Festival: Held southeast of Katherine in the Northern Territory, this event is all about sharing traditional culture with the community. It encourages people from every background to engage in traditional dance, spear throwing, weaving and cooking, in order to learn more about Australia’s First Nations people.

While you’re here: Soak up the sounds of epic Nitmiluk Gorge on a cultural cruise with Nitmiluk Tours.

JULY

NAIDOC Week (July 6-13): This week-long, Australia-wide event celebrates the cultures, histories, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, with the theme of "Our Stories, Our Languages, Our Future" in 2024. 

Cairns Indigenous Art Fair: Celebrating the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through colours, designs and artforms – from paintings to pottery and dance to song – the fair offers an ethical art marketplace, attracting national and international collectors and curators.

While you’re here: Channel your inner artist in a guided dot-painting workshop at Janbal Gallery.

Laura Quinkan Dance Festival: Despite its name, the fete – Queensland’s longest-running Indigenous event – is about much more than dance. Around 1,000 performers from some 20 different Aboriginal communities gather to celebrate culture through music, storytelling, art, dance and workshops – there’s also a didgeridoo competition, yarning circles and a marketplace.

While you’re here: Gaze in awe at one of the world’s most significant collections of ancient rock art on an adventure with Jarramali Rock Art Tours.

AUGUST

Shinju Matsuri – Festival of the Pearl: From art awards and parades to foodie events and live music, this enormous festival consumes Broome, revealing the city’s growing multicultural community.

While you’re here: Travel up to Cygnet Bay on the Dampier Peninsula and learn from guide Terry Hunter about his Aboriginal culture and the local pearling trade his family has been part of for four generations on a tour with ​Borrgoron Coast to Creek Tours​.

Garma Festival: Hosted by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, Garma is a four-day gathering that aims to address and improve social equity for Indigenous peoples. Held at a remote ceremonial meeting ground in north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, guests can learn about Aboriginal Australia and the rich Arnhem Land Yolngu culture through talks, dance, arts and song, and camp under the stars at the end of each day.

SEPTEMBER

Desert Song: Singers and musicians from Alice Springs and Central Australia are celebrated at this vibrant event, showcasing just how multicultural the region really is. 

Desert Mob: One of the oldest Aboriginal arts festivals unites everything from studio visits and curator talks to workshops and musical performances held across Alice Springs.

Winds of Zenadth Cultural Festival: Held on Thursday Island, the Winds of Zenadth Cultural Festival is a four-day explosion of Torres Strait Islander culture. Expect vibrant dance, rhythmic drumming, and powerful storytelling that bring the region’s rich seafaring history to life.

Quandamooka Festival: Set on the beautiful island of Minjerribah / North Stradbroke Island, this event celebrates the rich traditions of the Quandamooka People. Expect traditional dance, music, art, bush tucker, and cultural workshops led by Traditional Owners.

While you’re here: Let Aboriginal guide Elisha Kissick show you her ancestral island on a guided Yura Tours adventure

OCTOBER

Tarnanthi Festival: Held every two years, this is a wonderous celebration of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, hosted at the Art Gallery of South Australia as well as independent galleries across Adelaide and the rest of South Australia.

While you’re here: Make the pilgrimage north to the Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park where you can explore Indigenous culture through Wilpena Pound Resort.

EverNow: Celebrating the Noongar season of birth and renewal (kambarang), this Perth festival includes exhibitions, interactive installations and the mesmerising Song Circle, a showcase of Indigenous song and dance.

While you’re here: Drive south to the Margaret River region of Western Australia to hear a haunting digeridoo performance inside a sacred cave with Koomal Dreaming.

Shine on Gimuy: This immersive First Nations and Bama-led Cairns festival is a riotous union of Indigenous storytelling, innovative arts, music, performances and showcase of cultural practices. 

While you’re here: Forage for mud crabs, learn how to throw a spear and wander the rainforest with a Kuku Yalanji guide from Walkabout Cultural Adventures.

DanceRites: It’s fitting that one of Sydney’s most significant Aboriginal locations (Bennelong Point, aka the Opera House forecourt) hosts a competition to showcase emerging Indigenous performers.

While you’re here: Discover the stories behind Indigenous art and artefacts on a guided tour of collections at the Australian Museum.

Milbi Festival: The Bundaberg region comes alive for an immersive 10-day celebration of culture, environment and local art – think Indigenous dining experiences, weaving workshops and opportunities to meet Aboriginal artists and Elders.

While you’re here: Taribelang Bunda Cultural Tours will open your eyes to the Indigenous heritage that has carved the Bundaberg region for millennia.

NOVEMBER

Giiyong Festival: Held on the South Coast of NSW in the town of Eden, the Giiyong Festival celebrates traditional and contemporary Aboriginal culture through dance, art, music, film, theatre, food, sport, workshops and cultural tours.

Editor’s note:

A collective of 51 quality, authentic Aboriginal-guided tourism members across Australia, Discover Aboriginal Experiences offers more than 200 experiences across a diverse portfolio of operators.

Each member of the Discover Aboriginal Experiences collection is considered a world-class leader in Aboriginal tourism, representing local Aboriginal cultures with integrity and authenticity.

The Discover Aboriginal Experiences collective is part of Tourism Australia’s Signature Experiences of Australia program that promotes outstanding tourism experiences within a variety of special categories. This collection showcases a diversity of experiences delivered by the world’s oldest living cultures, creating memorable trips for adventure seekers, culture enthusiasts, foodies and nature lovers, ranging from exploring hidden rock art galleries to foraging for native delicacies, stand-up paddleboarding on culturally significant waterways to bedding down at wilderness lodges in serene natural settings.  

Trade and media can access information on each operator in the collective as well as images and logos from the Trade and Media section of the website, here. Keep up to date and be inspired via our Connect to Country digital magazines. A collection of royalty-free Aboriginal tourism images and videos are available here. Please search for Discover Aboriginal Experiences in the Resources section.

For further information contact:

Nicole Mitchell – Tourism Australia

Executive Officer Discover Aboriginal Experiences

T: +61 410 499 525

E: nmitchell@tourism.australia.com

W: discoveraboriginalexperiences.com 

Media in North America

Julie Earle-Levine in New York

E: julie@julieearle.net