This Week on Deadly Sounds: John Paul Janke
Many have fought to defend country with honour and pride. This year’s NAIDOC Week gives us the opportunity to recognise all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women who have served in defence of Country.
John Paul Janke, a member of the National NAIDOC Committee, is a Deadly Sounds guest this week, and talks about this year’s NAIDOC Week theme.
“Every member of the committee brings one of the themes that they want to honour and celebrate, and we workshop ideas and themes and then we lobby each other,” says Paul.
“By the end of it, it’s actually a unanimous decision. One theme just really stood out this year, and that was Serving Country – Centenary and Beyond.”
This year, the committee wanted to build on the momentum of other events recognising the service of Indigenous men and women, which is particularly relevant given that between 2014 and 2018 Australia will commemorate the Anzac Centenary.
“We wanted to say that we need to look beyond the centenary and we actually need to recognise and educate the nation about our first warriors, those warriors that fought in the Frontier Wars,” says Paul.
“It’s looking at those people who fought and protected country in the 1770s to those who are on peace keeping missions today; they were exactly the same as those that go off and fight today.”
NAIDOC Week is being held 6-13 July 2014 and the Gold Coast has been selected to host the National NAIDOC Awards Ceremony. For more information, visit the NAIDOC website.
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