Mercurius issue 8 – June 2021 - 30 Jun 2021
Principal’s Report

Principal’s Report

Dear Fortians, Parents and Carers,

As term 2 comes to a turbulent close, we find ourselves half way through another year. I have made the decision to postpone the School Open Evening scheduled for Thursday 29 July until later in term 3. The new date for this event will be published next term.

Reports have been published to Sentral for all year groups and we have just completed parent/teacher nights for all junior years. The evenings were very well attended by parents keen to discuss their children’s progress but unfortunately there are always a few requests that cannot be accommodated. If you are in this situation, please phone the school front office when school returns and request to speak to the class teacher. They will gladly speak to you or return your call at a convenient time to discuss your child’s progress.

I had the pleasure of attending the mid-year IMP concert last Friday evening in the school hall. This was another extraordinary experience listening to music from our talented students. This event was the official farewell to the Year 12 students who have participated in the school music program throughout their time at The Fort. They were most appreciative of the support, mentoring and guidance given to them by all of their conductors, tutors and staff.

We finished off the term with a NAIDOC assembly on Friday. Congratulations to Daniel Holland (Year 11) and Emma Howes (Year 8) for their speeches and organisation of the assembly along with Mr Chapman. Unfortunately our booked speaker Lille Madden (granddaughter of Charlie Perkins) had to withdraw at the last minute due to changing COVID-19 restrictions. Lille will hopefully reschedule her visit for later in the year.

Lille is a proud Arrernte, Bundjalung and Kalkadoon woman from Gadigal country, and a First Nations consultant for Groundswell. After working at Taronga Conservation Society in the Australian Fauna Precinct, Lille worked as the Natural Areas Aboriginal Heritage Officer with the Sutherland Shire Council. For the past year she has also been the Sydney coordinator for Indigenous Youth Climate Coalition ‘Seed Mob’ Australia’s first Indigenous climate organisation. Lille has worked on a number of community projects and feels a deep sense of responsibility towards the preservation and protection of our natural and cultural heritage.

 

COVID-19 Update

We are all hoping that the most recent Sydney COVID-19 outbreak will be under control by the end of the school holidays.

In the event that we should need to move toward Learning from Home we will send official communication to parents and students via email, facebook, Sentral and the school website. In terms of communication, you would probably hear about this on the news before we send official communication to you so please be patient.

I would like to wish everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday and I look forward to seeing all our students back at The Fort next term.

 

 

 

NAIDOC Assembly speeches

NAIDOC Assembly speeches

On Friday June 25 the school held a NAIDOC assembly.  The two student speeches were delivered by Emma Howes and Daniel Holland:

Good Morning Fortians and Staff

I would like to begin by acknowledging that today’s NAIDOC assembly is being held on the traditional lands of the Gadigal and Wangal people of the Eora nation, and pay my respect to Elders both past, present and emerging. I acknowledge Sovereignty has never been ceded. It always was and always will be, Aboriginal land.

Most know January 26th as Australia Day, marking the arrival of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove. But for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the date marks the beginning of the systematic dispossession of the land they’d been living on for more than 50,000 years.

On the 26th of January 1938 hundreds of people marched through the streets of Sydney. Their collective voice, indigenous and non-indigenous joined as one, called for change. The event was called the “Day of Mourning” in protest of the Australia Day celebrations, and was held every Sunday before Australia Day up until 1955, when it was shifted to the first Sunday of July.

In 1975 celebrations were extended to an entire week, called NAIDOC week. It was no longer seen as just a day of protest, but as a way of celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and knowledge. Today NAIDOC events are held all around the country, a chance for all Aussies to get together, engage, learn and celebrate the world’s oldest continuous living culture.

Ziggy Ramo is an Indigenous Australian singer, songwriter and activist. From the top of the Sydney Opera House sails to the harbour shores, in the video of his song “Little Things”, Ramo reinterprets Paul Kelly and Kev Carmody’s 1990’s land rights inspired classic “From Little Things Big Things Grow” in a multigenerational act of truth telling.

Emma Howes

 

The 2021 NAIDOC theme – Heal Country! – calls for all of us to continue to seek greater protections for indigenous lands, waters, sacred sites and cultural heritage from exploitation, desecration, and destruction.

First Nations people speak of Country as if it is a person, sustaining their lives – spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially, and culturally. Country, therefore, represents more than a place, it is inherent to identity.

NAIDOC 2021 invites us all to embrace First Nations’ cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia’s national heritage, giving the rich culture and values of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples the respect they deserve.

For generations, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have been calling for stronger measures to recognise, protect, and maintain all aspects of their culture and heritage. They are still waiting for those robust protections.

This year’s theme also seeks substantive institutional, structural, and collaborative reform – something generations of their Elders and communities have been advocating, marching and fighting for.

Healing Country means resolving the continuing injustices faced by Indigenous Australians. It means dismantling our systemically racist criminal justice system, one in which Indigenous people are 12.5 times more likely to be imprisoned than non-Indigenous people. It means fundamentally reworking our approach to policing. 474 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have died in custody since 1991. Now is the time to remember each and every one of those lives, including David Dungay Jr, who was murdered by correctional officers in 2015 while yelling “I can’t breathe”. It is about rejecting performative change and listening to Indigenous voices so we can take real and effective action.

Now is the time to uplift the voices of First Nations people, to jump at the opportunity to heal this fractured relationship by listening to their struggle and recognising their stories, the first stories of Australia.

For over 50,000 years, Australia’s Indigenous nations have cared for country by using land management that worked with the environment. Using traditional burning, fishing traps, and sowing and storing plants, they were able to create a system that was sustainable and supplied them with the food they needed. When Europeans arrived, they brought farming practices suited to an environment very different to Australia. Those practices have in the long-term caused deforestation, erosion and salinity. In this video we will see First Nations cultural sites can be found in our Australian backyards and how First Nations people can teach us a lot about sustainability practices.

Daniel Holland

Year 9 Aboriginal Presentation Visit with Dr Liesa Clague

Year 9 Aboriginal Presentation Visit with Dr Liesa Clague

On the 16th of June, Year 9 were given a lecture on the history of Aboriginal culture and presence in Australia from Dr Liesa Clague as a part of our two-week curriculum study on Aboriginal texts in Australia. Dr Clague informed the year group about the whitewashed history of Australia, with the erasure of Aboriginal perspectives. We were read out confronting documents and journal entries from the First Fleet and colonisers on board and told about the backstory behind what they were witnessing, disproving these white people’s racist thoughts on the nature of Aboriginal people.

A presentation showing the current issues that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people face in Australia showed us the importance of change and protest that has granted First Nations people rights to land that has always been there, with the students being split up into their classes and having to organise historical events in Aboriginal history. Obviously, many people’s inability to adequately date and relate the times and images, showed that we are not as educated as we all think. This presentation involved facts such as the age expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander  men and women in Australia to show that despite the fact that we believe we are past that area of our history, traces and elements in Australia’s white history remain to negatively affect those that they stole land from.

In class, students were read and taught from Aboriginal texts and authors, being asked to reflect on how they may have been affected in their relationships with Aboriginal culture. The entire course and the lecture were very informative and we were honoured that we had the chance to hear a genuine response and story from Dr Liesa Clague.

Amanda Heng – Year 9

Dr Clague is a Yaegl woman fron Northern NSW and a university lecturer, who addressed Year 9 English talking about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and their experience since the formation of the enal colonies in Australia.  Year 9 completed a two week unit of study on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander civilisation.

Titration

Titration

Eight teams made up of Year 12 and 11 Chemistry students, participated in the NSW Titration competition that was held at The University of New South Wales in June. From the 50 teams that participated in the competition, one team from Fort Street, was awarded first place, an excellent effort.

The students in the team that were awarded:

1st place:     Bruce JIN, Daniel KWUEN and Anilson SAHIN

This team will go on to participate at the next stage which is at the National level, at the University of New South Wales in early September. We wish them the best of luck. Finally we would like to thank all the students that gave up their time for their participation and preparation for the competition.

Theo Leondios

 

Year 11 Legal Studies Mooting

Year 11 Legal Studies Mooting

Year 11 Legal Studies students have commenced rigorous preparation for the upcoming University of Western Sydney Law School Mooting Kirby Cup. This celebrated mooting competition is due to take place at UWS at the end of this year. Fort Street is preparing to put forward multiple teams including current Year 11 Legal Studies students as well as a call for open auditions in years 10 and 11. For their chance to participate in the competition, Year 11 Legal Studies students were required to be in court room attire and put forward arguments for the plaintiff and defence in a hypothetical scenario involving the legal admission board, the Summary Offences Act and an evaluation who might be considered a ‘fit and proper person’ to be a practitioner of law. Please keep an eye out for auditions calls in your student email.

Jenny Xu

Year 10 Commerce Excursion

Year 10 Commerce Excursion

The year 10 Commerce students attended NSW Parliament House on 16 June and participated in mock legislative assembly and legislative council. It was wonderful to see our students aspire to active citizenship and experience our democratic institution first hand. There was much excitement when the mace and the black rod were shown to the students symbolising the power of the legislative branch of government. The students also completed a tour of Sydney Paddy’s Markets and Market City in preparation for the running of their commerce stalls.

Jenny Xu

Year 9 Commerce

Year 9 Commerce

Year 9 Commerce classes visited Sweet Lily Cafe in Leichardt Italian forum to explore the operations of a business. The students made pizzas, pasta and enjoyed a variety of soft drinks and gelato. The excursion encompassed the investigation aspects of business management including employer obligations, inventory management, operational processes, sources of finance and flexible business management during challenging economic conditions.

Jenny Xu

 

German Film Festival Excursion

German Film Festival Excursion

Eager for our first German excursion, the thrilled Year 8’s gathered their bags filled with snacks and lollies and took off towards Palace Norton Street Cinema. Together with the Year 9 and Year 10 elective German classes and under the supervision of Frau Reynolds and Herr Morrison, we embarked on the journey, which felt prolonged by the anticipation of the movie.

Upon arrival at the cinema, the students gradually filled the front rows of the cinema and sounds of chattering, lolly wrappers unravelling and popcorn bags being passed around entertained the students in the minutes before the premiere. Once the students were high on sugar and had stolen enough food from students around them, they settled down as the movie “Madison: A fast friendship” began.

The story centred around 12-year-old Madison, who is keen to follow in her father’s footsteps and become an Olympic cyclist. After an accident at a cycling training camp, she ends up spending the summer with her mother in the breath-taking mountain scenery of the Tyrol in Austria. There she learns the value of friendship and challenges herself by learning how to downhill on a mountain bike. As the film progressed, commentary from the audience and laughter made the experience so much more memorable (especially comments on how ridiculous the love triangle was).

In the end, the film was enjoyable and educational and the people who were there with us made the excursion so much more special. A special thanks to Frau Reynolds and Herr Morrison for spending their time and efforts to organize and take us on this invaluable journey that educated us on daily life and everyday speech in Germany.

Gina and Fiona 8I​

7O Toga Day

7O Toga Day

This semester 7O studied four ancient civilisations – Egypt, Greece, Rome and China. On Monday 7 June 7O and their History teacher Mr de Bres held a Toga Day to mark the culmination of their studies on Ancient Rome. The students dressed in togas, performed plays about the assassination of Caesar on the steps at the old entrance to the school, participated in a ceremonial procession and finished the day with some ‘Roman-inspired’ food.

Afterwards students were asked to respond to the following questions about their Toga Day experiences. Here are some of their responses:

What did you do to prepare for Toga Day?

I bought a bed sheet and figured out how to tie a toga. I made a laurel wreath out of printed out leaves and made a makeshift belt out of wool. I scrunched up red paper to make a very bad attempt at fake blood – Kai

I found a white table cloth at my aunts and used that for my toga. My mum found a golden rope in her old designer box and I used it as my belt – Danielle

I prepared for Toga Day by first looking for a white bed sheet that wasn’t currently being used. I then watched a youtube tutorial on how to make a toga and practised making it. After learning how to tie up the toga properly, I then looked for a rubber band to keep the knots together – Denzel

I prepared for Toga Day by getting a white sheet for toga day to wear as a toga. I watched many tutorials on the best ways to tie a toga. I prepared for the play by memorising my part and helping out my group with the script – Daniel

What did your group do to prepare for Toga Day?

Our group did a lot to prepare for Toga Day. We selected our group, figured out our roles and began writing a script. We finished the script over the weekend and a few people made props. We printed scripts for the day and helped one another to tie togas – Daniel

Our group prepared for the play by taking turns practicing each of our lines. We also discussed what accents and voices each character would have – Denzel

We practiced our scripts and talked about how we would present our voices – Maxaviar

Apart from the food, what did you enjoy most about Toga Day?

The togas and the plays! The plays were really fun, and we also got to wear togas, which, though they were hard to put on, were really fun – Miranda

Being able to be in ancient roman clothes and learning about Ancient Rome – Clarissa

My favourite part of Toga Day was watching the performances – Emma

My favourite part of Toga Day was the procession around ‘Ancient Rome’ – Umasuthan

The procession was fun – Alexander

I enjoyed that we got to perform instead of doing work for almost two whole periods – Matthew

What did you learn about Julius Caesar and his assassination from the play?

Many people wanted Caesar dead in the Senate and he should not have tried to be a dictator for life – Kai

I learnt that Julius Caesar was egotistical and thought that everyone loved him even though that was not the case…obviously – Danielle

He was betrayed – Lucas

He died. Other than that, I learnt that Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times – Aidan

I learned that Julius Caesar (as depicted in the script) was snobby, self-centred and took no heed of the soothsayer’s warning, resulting in his downfall – Matthew

Julius Caesar’s assassination involved not only senators Marcus Brutus, Cassius and Trebonius, but also more than 50 others. His final words were “You too Brutus?” which obviously meant that he had trusted Brutus and was surprised when he was there. However, after Caesar’s death, because the assassins wanted Rome to become a republic, they did not know what to do next or who should lead Rome – Denzel

 

 

 

 

 

The inaugural debate competition for Year 7 Fortians

The inaugural debate competition for Year 7 Fortians

(Photo of Year 8 Debate Team A)

On Tuesday the 15th of June 2021, the Year 7 Debate Team A from Fort Street had their first competition against Year 8 Debate Team A from Fort Street. Competition was tight between the two teams, as Year 7 set out to prove why self defence should be taught in schools to year 7 and 8 students whilst Year 8 negated. Considering that this was their first debate at high school level, Year 7 debated admirably and managed to rebut some strong points from the Year 8 team.

Ultimately the victory was claimed by Year 8, where each member on the team took advantage of all of their precious 8 minutes of speaking to formulate their arguments and rebuttals. More importantly, the debate provided Year 7 and 8 with an ample opportunity to get insightful feedback from the adjudicator and their debate coach, Ms Truong.

This will no doubt set both teams on the trajectory to further debate success in the future when they start versing other schools and showing them what true Fortian grit is made of! Well played Year 7s and 8s and I congratulate you on all of your efforts!

Ms. Truong (2021 Year 7-12 Co-Debate Coordinator)

Paul MacDonald’s visit

Paul MacDonald’s visit

On the 15th of June a publisher of and specialist in Young Adult literature named Paul MacDonald came to visit us and talk about books at Fort Street High School. As soon as I entered the library I was delighted to see many books laid out on top of the tables. And in front of the books stood Paul MacDonald eager to tell us about different types of books and the best books in each genre. When the period was ending he asked questions about the books he had talked about and we got books as prizes. At the end I was pleased that I went to school that day. Overall the presentation was highly interesting and informative. I hope I will meet him again one day.”
Christine Hwang, 7I
Ron Horan Museum Opening

Ron Horan Museum Opening

BOOK YOUR TICKETS NOW! Click on the link below!

Fortians and their guests are invited to join the school community between 4pm -6pm on Thursday, 29th July 2021 for the opening of the Ron Horan Museum at Fort Street High School.

There will be refreshments, musical entertainment from school ensembles and of course the opportunity to visit archive displays in the newly refurbished the Museum.

This is a free event but to adhere with COVID restrictions you must have a ticket to enter.  BOOK HERE

The P&C will be running a Devonshire Tea Room, refreshments by donation. If you would like to help prepare or serve teas, please email fortstreethighschool@pandcaffiliate.org.au

Jules Davies – Community Engagement

Iain Wallace – Archives