With the theme ‘The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy’, NAIDOC Week 2025 is a turning point. For Jakirah Telfer, it’s personal – and powerful.
At just 22, Jakirah Telfer has already spoken truth to power from Adelaide’s halls to the United Nations – so when she says this year’s NAIDOC Week matters deeply, it’s worth paying attention.
NAIDOC Week 2025 will be celebrated from 6-13 July with the theme ‘The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy’.
“This year’s NAIDOC is unlike any other – a moment where past, present, and future gather around the same fire,” Jakirah says.
“I’ve been ushered into leadership by my parents and elders around me – gently, powerfully – lifted onto platforms long before I felt I deserved to stand on them. There’s been pride, yes, but also shadowed by doubt. For years, I’ve carried that tension.”
Stepping into her power
But this year, Jakirah says “something shifted”.
“This year, I feel ready – not just to stand, but to claim space. To say to our young ones: it’s time. Time to not just step into leadership, but to own it. To shape it in our image.”
For Jakirah, this year’s NAIDOC theme is particularly meaningful.
“It’s an invitation – to everyone, Indigenous and non-Indigenous – to listen with more than just ears, to walk beside rather than ahead, and to recognise that leadership doesn’t always wear a title or speak the loudest.”
“Sometimes it’s carried in a whisper, a songline, a steady act of resistance. When we show up … with honesty and heart, we don’t just honour where we’ve come from – we help shape the future we all share.”
A path shaped by legacy
Jakirah comes from the dry forest clan, Mullawirra Meyunna, of the Kaurna People of the Adelaide plains region. Her name, Jakirah Warruyu, means second born girl of the full moon. On her father’s side, she has connections to Narungga. On her mother’s side, her ancestral lines were broken from Ooldea.
Jakirah’s grandmother is a Stolen Generations survivor – and her lived experience is the foundation of everything Jakirah does.
Jakirah says her grandmother’s legacy has shaped her path in ways she’s still uncovering.
“It’s in my drive to speak where she was silenced, to advocate where she was denied, and to ensure that our young people grow up never questioning their worth, their belonging, or their right to lead,” she says.
“Her story taught me that healing isn’t about forgetting – it’s about remembering with purpose. When I stand on a stage, step into ceremony, or sit at decision-making tables, I carry her with me. I do it for her, and for every child who didn’t get to go home.”
The honour and burden of leadership
Driven by her grandmother’s legacy, Jakirah became the youngest State Coordinator for the YES23 campaign leading up to the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum, and she is also a member of the South Australian Youth Minister’s Advisory Council.
Yet the weight of leadership for a young Aboriginal woman is heavy.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up only three per cent of Australia’s population, yet nearly 50 per cent of the community is under 25.
“Our youth are navigating a country that too often views them as a risk rather than as a resource, and the systems designed to support them instead mark, police, or fail them,” Jakirah says. “If our youngest carry the future of our culture, then Australia’s systems must urgently evolve to stop working against them.”
Speaking out at the UN
Last year, Jakirah attended the 2024 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, during its first-ever focus on Indigenous Youth Rights. She describes it as an honour carried with both pride and weight.
“I was invited to a youth panel, yet was the only young person at the table – a clear reflection of how even well-meaning spaces often fail to make real room for us,” she says.
“Coming just months after the national referendum, I was asked to explain Australia’s ‘No’, [vote] but instead I spoke of what rejection reveals – the exhausting reality of constantly proving our worth to systems that were never built for us. I spoke with openness and strength – not just to be heard, but to challenge what the world thinks it already knows.”
Jakirah confronted the audience with the “loneliness of visibility without power” – “being the ‘face’ of change in tokenistic spaces, where Indigenous youth are photographed, quoted and platformed – but rarely given real decision-making power”.
Jakirah feels the “ache of being seen but not listened to, of being celebrated publicly but unsupported privately”.
She also challenged the notion that young leaders are “emerging”.
“Youth aren’t the future of leadership, we are the leadership now,” she says. “From grassroots movements to national campaigns, young First Nations people are already shaping policy, driving cultural resurgence, creating art that shifts narratives, and standing on global stages with clarity and strength.”
She also spoke of “the burden of inherited activism – how young Indigenous people are expected to lead movements before they’ve had time to heal, often stepping into roles of cultural responsibility while still navigating the trauma passed down through systems that haven’t changed”.
The art of cultural truth
Despite these challenges, Jakirah continues to advocate and lead – often by powerfully sharing the truth of her culture through art.
She often co-creates with her sister, Tikana Telfer, to tell stories deeply rooted in cultural truth and “authentic to our Country, our people, and our ancestral lineage”.
“Whether it’s painted on an AFLW guernsey, depicted across projections across Adelaide or illuminating a public space like Rundle Mall, each piece carries the spirit of our sacred territories, guided by the knowledge systems handed down to us,” Jakirah says.
“We never create for the sake of decoration; our work is a cultural offering, and every brushstroke, motif, and design is chosen with purpose. The stories we tell through our art are not just visual – they are ancient, shared through new forms.
“Through our designs, we hope to share the message that our culture is not static – it lives, moves, and speaks through contemporary platforms, just as powerfully as it does through ceremony or song.”
How language sustains, heals and connects
For Jakirah, revitalising Aboriginal languages is another vital path to a strong future for First Nations people.
Jakirah is part of Warra Wangkatitya, a Kaurna-led not-for-profit grounded in the Purruna Kauwi (Living Waters) Framework – a poetic and powerful way of understanding language revitalisation as the flow of water: from Pudna (the spring), to Pari (the river), to Yarlu (the ocean).
Her vision for the next generation is to grow up fluent in their mother tongues from birth.
“Language, like water, sustains, heals, and connects. It nourishes not only individuals, but families, communities, and Country.”
This month, Jakirah and her sister, Tikana, will travel to Spain, Basque Country, to represent Australia for the first time at HIGA, an international gathering of young people revitalising endangered and Indigenous languages across the world.
This moment, during the Decade of Indigenous Languages, is bigger than just me,” Jakirah says. “It marks the rise of a generation who will speak the old words into the future, a generation who will carry the stories in their bodies and their breath”.
Greeting to Spirit of Place: Ceremony and recognition
Among her roles, Jakirah – as part of Yellaka – conducts Greeting to Spirit of Place ceremonies. She calls this “one of the deepest honours and responsibilities” she carries.
“It’s not just a cultural protocol – it’s a living act of recognition,” she says. “These ceremonies awaken the spirit that rests beneath our feet, acknowledge the sacredness of the land, and honour the presence of the ancestors who continue to guide us.
The ceremonies follow the meaning of their title: “I greet you to the spirit of this place, [so] if this place was spear country, reeds country or emu country, I share the history of these places with you, so you know. I tell the significance of the place we are on … as a reminder that the land remembers, even when we forget.”
“For all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, understanding these ceremonies is a step toward honouring the unbroken connection between land and people.”
Advice for young South Australians
In line with this year’s NAIDOC theme, Jakirah’s advice for young South Australians is empowering.
“Don’t wait to lead, or for space to be made for you … create it. Start something grounded in your identity and your values. Use your platform, to platform others … I hope you do it, and I hope to see you do it.”
“We are where we come from. Our elders pass down sacred knowledge – and the strength to challenge what holds us back. Honour where we’ve come from but dare to break cycles.
“We need young people fluent in both culture and systems, who move between ceremony and strategy. The future is shaped by those who blend ancient wisdom with bold, new ways.”
How to get involved in NAIDOC Week
NAIDOC Week is an annual celebration of the history, culture, and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Here’s how you can get involved locally and meaningfully.
There will be local events held across South Australia including cultural tours, weaving workshops, festivals, art and music.
In Adelaide, join the NAIDOC SA March and Family Festival at Tarntanyangga (Victoria Square) from 11am, 11 July.
On 8 July, Rundle Mall marks NAIDOC Week with a photographic art installation featuring works from Jakirah and Colleen Strangways.
You can also hold your own event. Just some of the options include:
- Researching the Traditional Owners of your area
- Visiting local Indigenous sites of significance or interest
- Hosting a community BBQ or lunch
- Learning the meanings of local or national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander place names and words
- Listening to Indigenous musicians or watching a movie about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history.
For more information about NAIDOC Week, click here.
