Students and staff have had a busy 2 weeks celebrating and learning more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture. NAIDOC Week began with a whole school Liturgy where students took time to reflect on how we can all help to ‘Heal country’.

Throughout the week infants and primary learned about the totems of the local Wiradjuri people: the goanna and the long neck turtle and the way Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have cared for our country for over 60 000 years. They also had a chance to paint with some ochre and come up with some ways that they can continue to care for our land and the people and animals within it. In Secondary students learned about the destruction of sacred sites taking place across Australia and thought about what it would be like if a place sacred to them such as a family farm or holiday spot was destroyed. Students then came up with some insightful things they could do to help protect and heal the country such as; put people before profits and get to know more about our own local sacred sites so that we don’t do the same here.

As part of our celebrations we also planted a native ‘Summer Glory” Corymibia Hybrid at Father Hannan as our contribution to to help heal the landscape and provide food and shelter for local animals. It is hoped that this will be the first plant in what will become a native Aboriginal garden for our students to enjoy. 

At Primary Assembly students learned an Acknowledgement of Country which included some actions to help them to remember and deepen their understanding. An Acknowledgment to Country is given as a sign of respect to the Wiradjuri people for sharing and caring for the land we now get to learn and play on. 

On Monday Wiradjuri Elder Aunty Kath Withers came to visit our school. Aunty Kath is an acclaimed Wiradjuri Artist with works on display in both the National Museum and the National Gallery of Australia. She gave a Welcome to Country at our Secondary assembly and then paid a visit to our year 1 & 2 students to let them explore some possum pelts, emu eggs, an emu caller and clapping sticks. She then spent 3 hours teaching our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students how to weave traditional baskets. All students got so much out of the opportunity to deepen their understanding of culture and spend time learning from Aunty Kath. 

If your child identifies as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and you haven’t let us know, please feel free to reach out and speak to either Mrs Wallace or Mrs Gaynor. The more students we have identified in our school the more resources we are able to access to ensure we can strengthen Aboriginal Education at St Anne’s.