National Reconciliation Week

At SCEGGS we want to play our part in the Australia’s move towards reconciliation, ensuring that all students are well educated about Indigenous issues and value Indigenous heritage and culture, and understand the history of our nation.

This is why we feel it is so important to have commemorated National Sorry Day on Friday 26 May as well as the celebration of National Reconciliation Week from 29 May to 2 June.

For National Sorry Day, a beautiful wave design Sea of Hands was installed on the law to honour the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. The Gadigal people have a strong connection to the sea and saltwater animals and life. The installation was designed by Jade Brennan (Year 11) and installed by the student RAP committee.

National Reconciliation Week began with a beautiful Years K-12 Assembly where Ms Allum spoke to special guests, Aunty Viv, Uncle Bruce and Old Girl, Maykooth Farrawell (Class of 2017). In particular, she asked what the theme for this year, Be a Voice for Generations, meant to them.

Year 6 students, Isla Roberts and Romy Schmidt shared their knowledge of the ancestral story told in the book, Kookoo Kookaburra, by Greg Dreise, a proud Kamilaroi and Euahlayi man. They also introduced Years K-2 who sang Kookaburra by Emily Wurramara, a proud Warnindhilyagwa woman. Samantha Dawson introduced a video explaining the land rights story behind the Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly song, From Big Things, Little Things Grow. Representatives from the Student RAP Committee, Leyla Bensan (Year 11), Emily Gyton (Year 11) and Akira Nicholson (Year 11) introduced an initiative to raise funds for the Healing Foundation. The Healing Foundation is a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation that provides a platform to amplify the voices and lived experience of Stolen Generations survivors and their families.

A range of activities continued across the week:

In the Primary School

• In House Families, students explored ancestral stories and their importance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The Year 6 Leaders read the book Kookoo Kookaburra. The story carries the important moral message that in order for others to be kind to us, we also need to be kind.
• Along with the rest of the school, the girls made “sorry day flowers” (Native hibiscus) which are now hanging proudly outside of classrooms. It was wonderful to have representatives from the Student RAP Committee join House Families. Bringing the school together for these very important occasions has been special. The Primary classes also engaged in discussions about the importance of using their “voice” to speak up for injustices and as a way to make change.

In the Secondary School

• Several form classes worked together to create a “Be a Voice for Generations” banner. This is prominently displayed in the staircase leading down to the bottom of the JF building. 
• Year 10 Peer Mentors had lots of fun with Year 7 where they played a skipping game originally played by Aboriginal children inhabiting the Riverina area between Victoria and New South Wales.
• In the weeks leading up to Sorry Day, Form classes addressed the injustices of the Stolen Generations and wrote meaningful and heartfelt apologies on perspex hands. These were displayed on the lawn amongst the Sea of Hands. During Reconciliation Week, Form classes also made native hibiscus flowers and discussed what reconciliation means to them.

• The Year 9 and 10 students participating in the Cultural Immersion program to Cape York and the Top End in September continued their preparation. They watched an informative Ted Talk about how to prepare and deliver a meaningful Acknowledgement of Country by Shelley Reys.
• In Year 9 Religious Education (RE), students examined the diversity of Dreaming stories in Indigenous Spirituality as part of their unit on World Religions, demonstrating reconciliation through acquiring knowledge and understanding of the world’s oldest spirituality. 
• The History and Social Sciences staff visited the Barka: the forgotten river exhibition at the Australian Museum to listen and learn from Indigenous voices about the importance of the Barka (Darling River) to the wellbeing of the Barkandji Wiimpatja People and the ecosystem of the entire region.

Zoe Thompson
Head of Social Sciences & Co-Chair of RAP Committee

Heidi Anderson
Kindergarten Teacher & Co-Chair of RAP Committee