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Celebrating the Indigenous Culture of Australia

Scientology Volunteer Ministers joined in the festivities at the National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Observance Celebration in Yarrabah, Queensland.

The bright yellow tent of the Volunteer Ministers was decorated in black, red and yellow balloons, the traditional colors of the Aboriginal people, in celebration of indigenous culture at the National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Observance Celebration (NAIDOC) in Yarrabah, Queensland.

Volunteer Ministers set up their bright yellow tent at the National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Observance Celebration in Yarrabah, in Queensland, Australia.
Volunteer Ministers set up their bright yellow tent at the National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Observance Celebration in Yarrabah, in Queensland, Australia.

It was an afternoon of dancing and music with visiting youth groups joining locals in time-honored Aboriginal and Torres Islander performances.

The week-long festival held annually from the first to second Sundays of July, NAIDOC highlights the distinct cultural histories of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Its purpose is to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

The Volunteer Ministers offered practical help in their bright yellow tent. Visitors could select from their 19 life skills booklets and courses. Among the most popular were the booklets on marriage and the cause of conflicts.

For more than a decade, a Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour has been working with Aboriginal communities throughout the country, providing practical help to hundreds of thousands to resolve social issues and tackle problems such as drug abuse and illiteracy.

Children, dressed in traditional costumes at the NAIDOC celebration.
Children, dressed in traditional costumes at the NAIDOC celebration.

The Volunteer Ministers program is a religious social service created in the mid 1970s by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard. Anyone of any culture or creed may train as a Volunteer Minister and use these tools to help their families and communities. The Church provides free online training on the Volunteer Ministers website.

In creating the Volunteer Ministers program, Mr. Hubbard wrote, “If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a Volunteer Minister and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance.”