Indigenous Protocols You Need to Know for Event Planning

When planning an event in Australia, it’s vital that you’re doing it with mindfulness and action around Indigenous protocols. These protocols can, and need to, become the fabric of your planning, just as essential as a run sheet. Because, when we celebrate in Australia, we also need to commemorate and respect the land and the storied history of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It’s about fostering connection, and in that we can explore the rich territory of positive change.

It may feel overwhelming to know which protocols to include, the scale, and the appropriate order of proceedings. But as this is a continued opportunity to bringing Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together as one, it’s important to take the steps forward.

Let’s begin with the Welcome to Country. As a rule of thumb, all events should have a Welcome to Country to pay respect to Traditional Owners of the land. A Welcome to Country can be performed as a speech, traditional dance, or smoking ceremony (or a combination of all three). Performed by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people of the region where the event is held, the Welcome to Country is a standard practice for all event proceedings.

As an alternative, an Acknowledgment of Country can be performed by anyone. An acknowledgement is always carried out at the beginning of any event. This means that size doesn’t matter; from intimate workshops and meetings, to large scale public events, an Acknowledgement of Country is a necessary part of any event you hold.

Consider acknowledging local sights of significance and remember, the Welcome to Country precedes all other welcomes, including acknowledging VIP guests and dignitaries.

These proceedings are only the beginning. Simply organising a Welcome to Country or introducing your event with an Acknowledgement of Country can signal to your guests that only the minimum considerations have been made. The infusion of our guide can channel your next event towards inclusion, acknowledgement, and authentic connection.

Click here to download the full guide.

Remember that with a long history of exclusion and dispossession, recognising our First Nations people at events is one step towards ending the exclusion. As event planners, we can use our work to actively promote an ongoing connection between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.