Participants met at the Ophir Road car park along the Macquarie River and the walk started at 11am.

IN NEWS AROUND BATHURST:

Everyone had the option of walking either five or 10 kilometres, but ultimately the walk was about bringing everyone together to have a chat and connect, Stronger Together committee member Julie Bennett said.

"Today is a very special day for us to come together and celebrate NAIDOC," she said.

"The aim is physical [health] and wellbeing and coming together and being stronger together as a community and working together as a community to help close the gap."

After becoming aware that COVID was having a serious impact on the mental health of the Aboriginal community, Stronger Together was developed.

The aim of the initiative is to bring Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people together to prevent mental health issues through physical activity.

"People were feeling isolated," Ms Bennett said.

"Mental health was being affected by COVID, so we developed the Stronger Together program, led by Bathurst Aboriginal Land Council's Toni-Lee Scott, and we are now in our official launch and we're having great success."

The Stronger Together committee said they are very thankful for the support they've received from the community and thanked acting mayor Ian North for attending the event.

Ms Bennett said they had a great time and had a great turnout at the event on Sunday.