Reconciliation Action Plan News 

Relationships in the Classroom - Opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students 

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 29 November – 1 December some of our Aboriginal students attended our 2021 Reconciliation Camp on turrakana Country (Tasman Peninsula). Led by parrdarrama pungenna Trent Prouse (SVC 2010) we camped, fished, dived and snorkelled, walked and talked and feasted together, finishing with a very meaningful Smoking Ceremony and a long hot bus ride home!

We arrived at Fortescue Bay in the middle of the day and made camp, and were joined by two members of the local community, Ben Hall and Reece Romagnoli-Townsend and were officially Welcomed to turrakana Country in parrdarrama language. The rest of the afternoon was spent learning good fishing techniques and local knowledge from Reece near the lagoon, another group went snorkelling and the rest of us spent time on the beach just talking and taking in the beautiful and immense seascape. Upon returning to camp some boys played cricket, whilst others helped with preparing abalone gathered from the ocean that afternoon. After dinner we walked to the local jetty to try and fish for squid but didn’t have much luck!

The next day we woke early, had breakfast, gathered our things and headed to teralina (Eaglehawk Neck) where Judith McDonald from the parrdarrama pungenna Aboriginal Corporation talked with us, passed around some cutural items such as clap sticks and ochre and then sang a "women's song" in the parrdarrama language, making the second rendition interactive with some boys playing clap sticks and other clapping with their hands.

We then walked down to the Tessellated Pavement, with Jude and Josh Prouse a local First Nations man of the parrdarrama people.  The boys were educated on living sites, traditional practices and Josh talked about good ways to express and keep cultural identity strong using different creative outlets available and afterwards there was time for some more snorkelling! After we said goodbye to Jude and Josh we went to Shelly Beach and talked more about life pre-colonisation and recapped the things Jude had talked about. By this time everyone was quite tired and so we stopped in Nubeena for much needed ice-cream treat on the way back to camp! After an enormous Bolognaise dinner Mark ‘Bushy’ Smith arrived, and we drank tea and talked about many different life stories and went for an evening walk down by the beach. 

On the final morning we broke camp, packed the bus and then lit a small fire, and talked about the significance of fire and how to use fire and smoke in a cultural setting. The boys then took part in a Smoking Ceremony, the intention of the ceremony was to tighten bonds already made between students and cleanse and heal any tensions or sadness in our lives.

We then had a superb lunch of Venison burgers and salad, generously prepared and cooked by Bushy. We headed back to SVC very hot and tired and arrived home just in time for the massive thunderstorms!

We would like to thank the SVC staff who attended, Mr Monte Piesse, Mrs Jacinta Waddington, Mr Jake Terhell, Mr Mark ‘Bushy’ Smith and Mrs Bridget Jenkins.

Also ,a very big thank you to the parrdarrama pungenna community for welcoming us to turrakana Country; Judith MacDonald, Josh Prouse and Ben Hall and our friend, Noongar man Reece Romagnoli-Townsend. Most of all we want to sincerely thank Mr Trent Prouse for all his work in planning and leading this wonderful camp for us.