Interpretations of the 2008 NAIDOC Week theme, Advance Australia Fair? will be showcased at an exhibition at the Gordon Gallery this month.

Each year in celebrations of NAIDOC Week Kitjarra Wurrun-ngeen (the Indigenous Education Unit at the Gordon Institute of TAFE) invites local Aboriginal artists, Aboriginal art students, staff, students and artists from the wider Geelong community to submit work for the annual NAIDOC art exhibition at the gallery.  The Gordon Institute of TAFE is delighted to feature selected works created by students from the Yeye-Dyeelee (To Dream) Digital Photography Class and the Wathaurong Youth Education Class.

NAIDOC celebrates the survival of Indigenous culture and the Indigenous contribution to modern Australia.  All Australians are encouraged to participate in NAIDOC Week activities during July 6 to 13.  The acronym originally stood for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.

To mark NAIDOC Week celebrations this year the National NAIDOC Committee has selected the theme: Advance Australia Fair?

The aim of the theme this year is to encourage people to reflect on the Australian principle of a fair go and for them to consider the inequalities still experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in this country today.

The theme also lays down the challenge to the new Labor Government to deliver real change and improvements in the lives of Aboriginal people.  This year's exhibition title White and Black in Black and White is born from the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd's, historical apology motion tabled in parliament on February 13 2008:  "We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation. For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.  We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians."

NAIDOC organiser Judith Shea said: "For us to work together we need to acknowledge the past, share in understanding the present and journey together for the future."

Roger Heagney is returning to Geelong to give a harpsichord recital, A Winter Tapestry, in the Basilica of St Mary of the Angels.  Roger is well-known in Geelong, having been brought up in this city where he attended St Joseph's College.  His wife, Margaret, is also a local girl, formerly Margaret Flanagan.

Roger began his career in Geelong and many readers will remember him as a young organist and choirmaster at St Peter and Paul's Church in Mercer Street.  From there his career rose steadily and Roger is now internationally recognized as a performer on piano, organ and harpsichord, and as composer, lecturer, recording artist, arranger of orchestral works and conductor.  He was Director of Music at St Francis' Church in Melbourne for many years and conductor of the choir, taking it on two international tours and making a number of recordings.  Roger was awarded by Pope John Paul II for his services to church music with the title of Knight Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great.  The OAM was bestowed on him by the by the Australian Government for his services to music and his contribution to Australian Catholic University has been invaluable.

This is a rare opportunity to hear a harpsichord recital in Geelong from one of Australia's finest exponents of this instrument, an eagerly sought international artist and a highly respected teacher with family links and a loyal following in Geelong.  The harpsichord is heard in Geelong occasionally, usually as part of an ensemble or as a featured instrument in a broader setting.  However, Roger's performance is a dedicated harpsichord recital and that makes it special and different.  Roger will set the music of composers such as Scarlatti, Haydn, Couperin and Bach free into the wonderful acoustics of the Basilica.  It will be an inspiring experience.