Reconciliation Week in Junior School

Uncle Jimmy lit a fire!

During Reconciliation Week, Junior School students, inspired by local Aboriginal elder Uncle Jimmy’s teachings about pre-European cartography, are creating a giant map in the playground. Loosely based on the shapes of the Parramatta River and the surrounding land, the girls and their families added images of native flora and fauna. They added grass trees to Gadigal Country, Casuarina trees to Wangal Country, whales and a multitude of sea life to the Pacific Ocean, and of course Bara the eel to the Parramatta River. As more girls joined in we had some interesting additions such as Rapunzel, providing a welcome opportunity for conversations about pre–European Australia, with a Year 2 artist reaching a creative solution.. ‘perhaps we could pretend that Rapunzel was here!’

The dates for NRW remain the same each year; 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey – the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively. We will be out working on our map every morning from Friday 29 May to Tuesday 3 June, so come and join us in connecting to this beautiful country.

– Marian Doull
Visual Arts Teacher