At St Agnes Catholic High School we celebrated NAIDOC Week by welcoming Aunty Julie, a Darug Elder, to the school. Aunty Julie spoke to the students about the history of our nation's First People and her family experiences, with language and acknowledgement of their experiences.
The theme for NAIDOC Week 2019 was Voice, Treaty, Truth. The Uluru Statement from the Heart, below, underpins this theme and focuses on the yearning for our nation's First People to have a constitutionally enshrined voice, agreement and acknowledgement of their history in our Australian story, past, present and future.
Thank you very much to our students, teachers and community for the support of our NAIDOC Week activities this week.
Our students worked on an artwork which was led by Aiden Priestly and Theo Dennis. A conversation around NAIDOC 2019 was started with students and Aiden and Theo came up with a basic idea for an artwork representing the rise of indigenous culture, the decline of that came with colonialism, followed by the embrace Aboriginal culture and the improvement that comes with inclusion. During the creation of the artwork many conversations happened, covering cultural learning, relationships, myths, superstitions you are not to take rocks and items from home because of concern about spirits attached to them coming home with you. The bottom left hand of the artwork below shows the land as it was in the Aboriginal hands. As this section was being painted Aiden noted that it made him think of the Dreamtime creation story of the Rainbow Serpent.
The red dotted lines symbolise the bloodshed which resulted from British colonisation (indicated by the blue hand where the canvases join). The hands of all Australians then become blended as we embrace the future as one. The circle on the first canvas represents the sun as a lifeforce for the people, while the second circle represents their hope for the future, which is unity.
Please go to our Gallery to view photographs of the day.