'Heal the Country' is the 2021 theme and invites each and every member of the local community to continue to provide protection for traditional Aboriginal lands, waters, sacred sites and heritage from continued exploitations, desecrations and destructions.

Drug and Alcohol Officer and proud Wiradjuri man Jamahl Little from the Griffith Aboriginal Medical Service said that NAIDOC is celebrated not only in Indigenous communities, but by Australians from all walks of life.

"Healing Country means finally resolving many of the outstanding injustices which impact on the lives of our people" Mr Little said.

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"Our connection to Country forms our connection to our culture, our language, our traditional practices, our song, our dance, our story telling and our identity.

Our connection to our Country guides us as a person not just spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, and culturally."

Just outside of Griffith at Barren Box Swamp, Wiradjuri artefacts have been found with radio carbon dating back to 17 thousand years old.

Most recently in Griffith in 2020, as part of the construction of the new Griffith Base Hospital, numerous artefacts were uncovered after an Archaeological survey.

"The artefacts uncovered dated back thousands of years and suggest the hospital site was a camp ground which the Wiradjuri people would base themselves in preparation for men to then leave the camp and journey to Scenic Hill for traditional ceremony" Mr Little said.

Other local traditional sites include burial grounds and artefacts finds at Lake Wynyngan and Scenic Hill.

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"All Australians should ensure that we work together to achieve this so we can heal country" Mr Little said.

There has also been cultural burning conducted on Mallinson Road to eradicate prickly pear weed according to Aboriginal Land Council Chairwoman Vickie Simpson.

"After receiving funding through the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government, we have been able to bring people in from outside Griffith to conduct cultural burnings and teach community members how to conduct cultural burns for the future."

According to Mr Little, Country calls Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders home and is spoken as if was a person.

"Country is family law, ceremony, traditions and language and has been since the dawn of time. We speak to country and country speaks to us" Mr Little said.

"We cared for country, by doing grass burns, we only took what we needed and hunted and gathered to ensure the ongoing existence of our native flora and fauna"

"Heal Country, means to heal our nation."

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