By acknowledging, celebrating and promoting days of significance, agencies can increase the visibility of diversity and foster an inclusive workplace culture.
Build your own calendar
We acknowledge the broad diversity of the Western Australian community.
This diversity and inclusion calendar has been developed to align with the WA public sector approach to strengthen diversity and inclusion.
Agencies may wish to use this calendar and the additional resources below to create their own calendars to reflect their priorities and stakeholders:
- Western Australian Office of Multicultural Interests Events Calendar
- Australian Department of Home Affairs Calendar of Cultural and Religious Dates
- United Nations List of International Days and Weeks
- Diversity Council of Australia
| Day of significance | Date | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Free the Flag | 25 January | Recognising the importance of the free use of the Aboriginal Flag for all Australians, following the Commonwealth of Australia securing the copyright of the Aboriginal Flag in January 2022. |
| International Day of Women and Girls in Science | 11 February | Promoting women and girls’ full and equal access to, and participation in, science. |
| Anniversary of National Apology to Australia’s Indigenous Peoples | 13 February | National Apology Day is an anniversary of the Australian Government’s apology to First Nations peoples who were forcibly removed from families. |
| International Mother Language Day | 21 February | Recognising the role linguistic diversity plays in development, intercultural dialogue, building inclusive knowledge societies, preserving cultural heritage, and strengthening cooperation. |
| Zero Discrimination Day | 1 March | An opportunity to recognise the right of everyone to live a full and productive life, live with dignity, and create a movement to end all forms of discrimination. |
| International Women's Day | 8 March | Recognising the cultural, political and socioeconomic achievements of women. This year’s theme is ‘Invest in women: Accelerate progress’. |
| Harmony Week WA | 15 to 21 March | An opportunity to celebrate cultural diversity in Western Australia. |
| National Close the Gap Day | 21 March | An opportunity to bring together Australians to create more equitable conditions for First Nations peoples. This year’s focus is on drawing attention to health issues experienced by First Nations peoples. |
| Transgender Day of Visibility | 31 March | Recognising gender diverse people, and welcoming visibility and inclusion of gender diverse people on their terms. |
| Youth Week WA | 5 to 12 April | An opportunity to listen to the concerns and ideas of young people, and celebrate the talents and contributions of people aged 10 to 25 years in Western Australia. |
| Global Accessibility Awareness Day | 16 May | Raising awareness of digital access and inclusion for people with disability. |
| International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) | 17 May | Raising awareness of discrimination of people of diverse sex, sexualities and genders. |
| World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development | 21 May | An opportunity to recognise the richness of the world’s cultures and the role of intercultural dialogue for achieving peace and sustainable development. |
| National Sorry Day | 26 May | Acknowledging First Nations peoples who were forcibly removed from their families, communities and Country; and how everyone contribute to promoting healing. |
| Anniversary of the 1967 Referendum | 27 May | Commemorating the day when over 90% of Australian voters chose ‘Yes’ to count First Nations peoples in the census, and give the Australian Government power to make laws that apply to First Nations peoples. |
| National Reconciliation Week | 27 May to 3 June | Exploring how Australians can collaborate to achieve justice and rights for First Nations peoples in Australia. The 2024 theme is ‘Now More Than Ever’. |
| Anniversary of the Torres Strait Islander Flag | 29 May | Celebrating the anniversary of the presentation of the Torres Strait Islander Flag design. It was officially presented to the people of the Torres Strait at the sixth Torres Strait Cultural Festival on 29 May 1992. |
| Pride Month | June | An opportunity to promote inclusion of people of diverse sexualities and genders. |
| Mabo Day | 3 June | Commemorating the successful efforts of Mer Island man Eddie Koiki Mabo in overturning the legal fiction of terra nullius or ‘land belonging to no-one’. |
| Refugee Week | 16 to 22 June | Celebrating the contribution of the diverse people who seek humanitarian entry to Australia. |
| The Coming of the Light | 1 July | Marking the anniversary of the coming together of the Torres Strait Islands, celebrated through religious and cultural ceremonies across the islands and mainland Australia. |
| NAIDOC Week | First week of July | Celebrating the achievements, cultures and histories of First Nations peoples. |
| Anniversary of the raising of the Aboriginal Flag | 9 July | Acknowledging the Australian Aboriginal Flag is well recognised as the flag of Aboriginal peoples of Australia. The flag was first raised on 9 July 1971 at Victoria Square in Adelaide. It was also used at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra in 1972. Mr Harold Thomas from Northern Australia designed the flag. |
| Anniversary of the recognition of the Aboriginal Flag as an official Flag of Australia | 14 July | Acknowledging the Australian Aboriginal Flag is well recognised as the flag of Aboriginal peoples of Australia. The flag was proclaimed on 14 July 1995. |
| International Non-Binary Peoples Day | 14 July | Raising awareness of experiences of non-binary people around the world and celebrating those who are non-binary and diversity of genders. |
| World Youth Skills Day | 15 July | Promoting the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship. |
| National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day | 4 August | Promoting the importance of culture, family and community for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Historically, this day communally celebrates the birthdays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children taken from their family at a young age, without knowing their birthday. |
| International Day of The World’s Indigenous Peoples | 9 August | Celebrating the unique cultures, traditions, languages and knowledge systems of the world’s diverse indigenous peoples. |
| International Youth Day | 12 August | International celebration of young people’s contribution to global society and promotion among youth of the ideals of peace, mutual respect, and understanding between peoples. |
| Wear it Purple Day | 30 August | An opportunity for respectful and meaningful conversations about inclusivity for people of diverse sexuality and genders, particularly young people. A celebration of role models and people taking action to increase inclusion and opportunities for LGBTIQA+ people. |
| Indigenous Literacy Day | 4 September | Celebrating First Nations stories and recognising literacy aspirations of First Nations communities as part of achieving self-determination. |
| Anniversary of the Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) | 13 September | Recognising and reaffirming that Indigenous individuals are entitled without discrimination to all human rights recognised in international law, and that Indigenous peoples possess collective rights which are indispensable for their existence, wellbeing and integral development as peoples. |
| R U OK? Day | 12 September | Encouraging meaningful conversations between people whenever they spot the signs that someone may be under strain. |
| International Day of Sign Languages | 23 September | Opportunity to communicate the importance of protecting the linguistic identity of people who are sign language users and their rights. |
| World Mental Health Day | 10 October | Raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilise efforts in support of mental health, and an opportunity for all people working for mental health to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide. |
| WA Mental Health Week | 5 to 12 October | An opportunity to promote stigma elimination and bring people together to promote good ways to keep people mentally healthy. |
| International Pronouns Day | 16 October | An opportunity to promote the sharing of personal pronouns and educating about how respecting pronouns and identities is basic to human dignity. |
| PrideFEST | November | Promoting respect and understanding for the LGBTIQA+ community and embracing diversity in WA. |
| International Day for Tolerance | 16 November | Recognising the universal human rights and fundamental freedoms of others, and that diversity is natural. |
| Transgender Awareness Week | 13 to 19 November | Highlighting the advancing advocacy around issues of prejudice, discrimination and violence that impacts the transgender people. |
| Transgender Day of Remembrance | 20 November | An opportunity to commitment to create a safe and inclusive working experience for transgender people. |
| 16 Days in WA | 25 November to 10 December | Encouraging Western Australians to learn, educate, and advocate to eliminate violence against women, starting on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. |
| International Day of People with Disability | 3 December | An opportunity to promote how we can improve inclusion of people with disability at work and celebrate the contributions of people with disability. |
| Human Rights Day | 10 December | The anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a global pledge proclaiming the inalienable rights that everyone is entitled to as human beings. |
| Anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) | 13 December | Acknowledging the original adoption date for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. |
