Wellbeing Report – May 30, 2019

Reconciliation Week

During the week the College has taken time to celebrate the rich culture and history of Indigenous Australians and reflect on the journey of national reconciliation. On Sunday evening the Boarding community came together to launch the week with the Annual Reconciliation Dinner. The gathering highlighted the rich diversity and the strong bonds forged by all in the boarding house with our youngest boarder Dwayne from Ali Curung in the Northern Territory giving life to this year’s theme is Grounded in Truth -“ Walk Together with Courage.–

On Tuesday during our Reconciliation Assembly hosted by Tyrese Thompson and Jordan Muir the students called upon all to reflect about what we as individuals are doing to advance the process of reconciliation. Powerful presentations by Jack Sampi and Alexander Kirby as each delivered their individual reflection on the significance of Reconciliation really stirred the audience.

Time was taken to explain the importance and significance of May 27 and June 3 in Indigenous Australia’s recent history with May 27- marking- the anniversary of the 1967 referendum in which more than 90 per cent of Australians voted to remove clauses from the Australian Constitution, which discriminated against Indigenous Australians. It enabled Indigenous people to be included in the Census, and Federal Parliament the power to make laws in relation to Indigenous people. June 3 marks the anniversary of the High Court’s judgment in the 1992 Mabo case. The decision recognised the Native Title rights of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original inhabitants of the continent and overturned the myth of terra nullius -“ the belief that the continent was an empty, un-owned land before the arrival of Europeans in 1788.

Year 12 student Cooper Craig Peters, the designer of our Indigenous tie, took time to explain the meaning of the design to the whole community and formally presented the tie to Professor Terry Lloyd, our College Board chair. Board College.

– Whilst the College highlights the importance of Reconciliation this week we know that it is a journey, upon which we travel every day not something to be thought about and forgotten till next year.-