Dr Maree Toombs was the guest speaker at the Our Languages Matter event, held in honour of NAIDOC Week in Warwick over the weekend.

About 150 people filled Williams Hall, which featured dancing from the Winangali Infusion Group and country music played by Jerry Byers.

The University of Queensland Faculty of Medicine Rural Clinical School director of Indigenous health and chair of Carbal Aboriginal Medical Services Dr Maree Toombs spoke about Indigenous diversity and her own experiences growing up in an Indigenous family.

Now living in Toowoomba, Dr Toombs explained her strong family connections to Warwick.

Her mother worked as a cleaner at Scots PGC in her early teens and her aunt and uncle, Barb and Jim Chapman, were the first Aboriginal family to buy a house in Warwick.

Dr Toombs discussed the common misconception of Indigenous Australians sharing a homogeneous culture and the issues this raised when people were taken to missions.

"There's so many different language groups put together and it caused a lot of problems," she said.

Language holds a vital connection to a sense of belonging according to Dr Toombs.

"If you lose language you lose culture and if you lose culture you lose identity," she said.

Dr Toombs shared insight into her own upbringing, saying her father used to tell her not to tell people about her Indigenous heritage.

She thought he believed this would make life a little easier.

"I had very low self-esteem as a result of that," she said.

She said role models such as her uncle Michael Anderson, who was one of the first people to establish the Aboriginal Tent Embassy outside Parliament House in Canberra, have given her strength throughout her life.

But she believes the situation has altered over time, with more people now feeling comfortable to share their background.

"I think a lot of people feel safer to identify now because the government policies like the stolen generation aren't here now," she said.

NAIDOC Week is a significant event on the calendar for Dr Toombs as she believes it unites people from all walks of life.

"It's really the only time of the year big groups of people come together," she said.

"The more we have these events, the more I see non-Indigenous people coming along.

"That's what it's about, sharing history and friendship."