NAIDOC Week with Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing

Date: Tuesday 21 July, 10am – 10:45am (AEST)

Join us as we connect with award-winning authors, Adnyamathanha and Narungga man Adam Goodes, and Ellie Laing, to explore two picture books in the Welcome to Our Country series: Walk With Us and Dreaming.

Students will have the opportunity to hear Adam and Ellie read and discuss these books, and participate in a Q and A session. This event is an opportunity to enable conversations, as well as celebrate 50 Years of Deadly, this year's NAIDOC theme.

Dreaming

Told in a child's voice, Dreaming, is a joyful and thought-provoking story in the award-winning Welcome to Our Country series. The story follows one young girl as she imagines what it might be like to be part of the Dreaming, past and present.

Walk With Us

Inspired by the Uluru Statement from the Heart, Walk With Us, is an invitation to go on a journey of learning and appreciation – with family, with friends, and with our nation – together.

About Adam Goodes

Adam Goodes is an Adnyamathanha and Narungga man and community leader. He is a former Australian rules footballer, having achieved the greatest heights in the game, and was named Australian of the Year in 2014 for his public work in the fight against racism and his advocacy in First Nations affairs. Together with his cousin Michael O'Loughlin, Adam founded the GO Foundation, which supports and inspires the next generation of First Nations leaders. With a diploma in Aboriginal Studies and his own children at school and preschool, Adam was motivated to publish a series of books for young children and families about Australia's First Nations history.

About Ellie Laing

Ellie Laing (nee Southwood) is a communications executive and former journalist who lives on the lands of the Gammeraygal people on the northern beaches of Sydney with her husband and two sons. When Ellie's eldest son, Harvey, came home from preschool reciting Acknowledgements of Country and singing Aboriginal lullabies, she was inspired to collaborate with Adam Goodes on a series of books aimed at helping families with young children to talk about Australia's First Nations history. She has recently completed studies in Traditional Aboriginal Cultures.