NAIDOC Week 2026: Fifty Years of Deadly at Currency Creek
National NAIDOC Week runs from 5 to 12 July 2026. It’s a time to recognise and celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This year marks fifty years of NAIDOC Week. The theme, Fifty Years of Deadly, honours the Elders, leaders, families and communities who have built and sustained it across five decades.
At Merilli1885, we acknowledge the Ngarrindjeri People as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we live, farm and welcome guests.
A Stone Cottage on Older Ground
Our stone cottage at Currency Creek dates to 1885. We’ve spent two decades restoring it, alongside twenty years of orchard planting and farm development across the surrounding ninety acres. But as the current caretakers of this property, we understand its story sits within a much older story. One written into this land long before the cottage. Long before 1885.
Currency Creek carries deep layers of history. The area was even considered as a possible site for South Australia’s capital in the late 1830s. We’ve learned some of this through our own research and through connections with local historians. But we know there is far more to learn. The deepest history of this place belongs to the Ngarrindjeri People, whose connection to this land goes back far beyond any date carved into a chimney or any settler’s ruin left standing in a paddock.
What This Means for Guests at Merilli1885
Guests come to Merilli1885 for the quiet: the sound of rain on the tin roof, cattle in the paddocks, kangaroos at dusk. Part of what makes this place worth slowing down for is its history, and that history doesn’t start with us. When you stay at Merilli1885, you’re stepping onto Ngarrindjeri Country, on the Fleurieu Peninsula, in a landscape shaped over tens of thousands of years.
We’re continuing to listen and learn. We’re grateful for the chance to better understand this place and its continuing cultural significance. This is an ongoing responsibility, not a single gesture during NAIDOC Week.
We pay our respects to Elders past and present, and acknowledge the strength, knowledge and continuing cultures of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.