"Nhangga everyone! It's your boy Dre here coming to you from Umee HQ in beautiful Port Augusta on Barngala land."
Presenter Dre Ngatokorua, who is of Wnagkangurru, Adnyamathanha, Kuyani, Luritja, Deiri, Yankunytjatara, Cook Island and Maori descent, greets the audience on Umeewarra Media's news bulletin.
"As you know, it's NAIDOC Week and this is the NAIDOC News."
The news bulletin originally started as a way to connect to the community during the National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) Week during COVID-19, when celebrations and gatherings were put on halt.
But NAIDOC News has now become an annual tradition.
Mr Ngatokorua, who's worked at Umeewarra for eight years, says the week that celebrates the culture and history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders is always the busiest in the calendar.
He says the news not only benefits the local community, but it allows the team at Umeewarra, which is mostly made up of young First Nations people, to develop new skills.
"We get to take a few of our young journos to train them up and get a few of the other professional media teams involved to help train them as well," he says.
"They get to be really involved in it, and some of them feel really proud to just be behind the camera or in front of the camera."
The regional city of Port Augusta located at the top of the Spencer Gulf, which is a traditional meeting place for Aboriginal people in South Australia, is known for its long list of NAIDOC Week events each year.
"The community in Port Augusta always looks forward to NAIDOC. They block out July to make sure they're free," Mr Ngatokorua says.
"Everybody says it's always bigger and better here in Port Augusta."
Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!
This year was no exception, with thousands participating in activities around the city including smoking ceremonies, a colour run, dance and musical performances, workshops, and the highly anticipated NAIDOC ball.
The majority of the participants this year were young First Nations people, with hundreds of school students showing up for Culture Day and Youth Day.
This year's theme 'Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!' is a call to all Australians to continue the fight for systemic change for First Nations people.
Dre's mother and NAIDOC Week organiser, Wankangurru and Adnyamathanha woman Lavene Ngatokorua, says this is a theme that she hopes can inspire the younger generation.
"It's been 12 years since the schools have been involved," she says.
"For them, just the look on their faces and how they participated with Eddie from the Torres Strait and watching the old ladies doing the dances … I mean, so important.
"We have to teach our young people. So, if they can get something that's inside of them then they will keep that, they will remember that and that's what we want to do."
'Proud and deadly'
Adnyamathanha and Luritja artist Juanella McKenzie held a workshop on Youth Day where she created posters with local school students that were held up at the NAIDOC march later in the week.
"The design has a fist in the middle, which represents solidarity, and then it has the symbol for people around it which represents everyone coming together and sharing in the message of the Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!" she says.
"It's important because the kids are taking that template that we've created and then they're making it their own.
"So then they're able to hold that sign up proud and deadly … and it's their interpretation of what NAIDOC means to them."
Ms McKenzie says art and activism go hand in hand and believes it's essential for young people to use their voice and hopes they will continue advocating into their adulthood.
"I look up to the kids and I admire their drive and their strength to continue that in the modern world," she says.
"I think it's really powerful and significant that little ones are showing that interest in carrying that message on into the future and that's really important that they hold that close to their little hearts."
Voice of the future
When school students were asked at the workshop who they looked up to in the community, there was one name that was repeated.
Adnyamathanha, Luritua, Kuyani, Kokatha man Kahran McKenzie is a cultural specialist at Augusta Park Primary School where he teaches the Adnyamathanha language to students.
Mr McKenzie says he's humbled to be seen as a role model for many of the younger generations in Port Augusta.
"I'm just glad I can help make a positive impact for the Aboriginal students and non-Aboriginal students," he says.
"I teach them [Adnyamathanha] from the basics. From body parts, animals, about respect and also I also teach them the song lines and the story lines.
"I'm happy to teach the kids: when things are tough, stand up for yourself, stand up and strive to do the best in your life.
"Our kids are the future."
"That's a wrap for tonight's news," Dre Ngatokorua signs off.
"I'll see you out and about in the community … but I want you to always, always remember to stay deadly."