Sustainability News

Reconciliation Week Whole School Activity Please find attached a project the Fire Carriers have been working on for Reconciliation Week at the end of this month. A print out of your coloured foot will go out this week. Keep an eye out for it in your child's school bag! 

Thank you, 

The St Finbar's Fire Carriers

National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. The dates for NRW remain the same each year; 27 May to 3 June. These dates commemorate two significant milestones in the reconciliation journey— the successful 1967 referendum, and the High Court Mabo decision respectively. Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, Australia’s colonial history is characterised by devastating land dispossession, violence, and racism. Over the last half-century, however, many significant steps towards reconciliation have been taken. Reconciliation is an ongoing journey that reminds us that while generations of Australians have fought hard for meaningful change, future gains are likely to take just as much, if not more, effort. In a just, equitable and reconciled Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children will have the same life chances and choices as non-Indigenous children, and the length and quality of a person’s life will not be determined by their racial background. Our vision of reconciliation is based and measured on five dimensions: historical acceptance; race relations; equality and equity; institutional integrity and unity. These five dimensions do not exist in isolation, but are interrelated. Reconciliation cannot be seen as a single issue or agenda; the contemporary definition of reconciliation must weave all of these threads together. For example, greater historical acceptance of the wrongs done to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples can lead to improved race relations, which in turn leads to greater equality and equity.

St Finbar’s Community Project 

Each student will get a foot in the colour they are allocated; white, yellow or red (on the white foot please use black), we will then turn the finished feet into an Aboriginal Flag collage. Please google and talk with your family about what reconciliation is and means to you. Then draw or write on your coloured foot what it means to you. Cut them out, bring them back into class and give them to your teacher. They need to be back before the 21st of May.

Link Here