St Mary’s celebrates NAIDOC Week

POSTED July 23 2022 , News

The entire St Mary’s community got up, stood up and showed up for our 2022 NAIDOC Week celebrations during the first week of Term 3!

Our Aboriginal students kick-started our celebrations on Wednesday 20 July by creating a stunning sand mural on the Boarders’ Lawn.

The mural, which took the whole day to complete, conveyed a powerful message of unity, with several rivers leading people from different corners of the country to a central hand displaying the Aboriginal flag.

The sand mural was the centrepiece for our annual NAIDOC Week Assembly on Thursday 21 July, which was attended by staff and students from our Junior and Senior Schools.

The celebration of Aboriginal culture included a Welcome to Country from Noongar Elder Aunty Viv Hansen, a traditional smoking ceremony conducted by Noongar Elder Uncle Mort Hansen, and a moving performance by the Binar Dance Troupe, who were ably assisted by three of our talented students.

Following the assembly, our students tucked into some damper and bush tucker jams and later in the day our Year 1 students proudly showed off umbrellas adorned in artwork honouring the Noongar Six Seasons while participating in Bush School activities.

On Friday 22 July, Aboriginal students from the Senior School visited the Junior School to conduct a series of collaborative art projects. After the artworks were completed, the girls read dreamtime stories to our younger students.

It was a wonderful week of celebration. Special mentions must go to our inspirational Aboriginal students, who played a pivotal role in organising and running the week’s events, and to our wonderful Indigenous Student Coordinator, Julie Garnett, who was instrumental to the week’s success.