Celebrating Harmony Day

Harmony Day celebrates 20 years

Since 1999, more than 77,000 Harmony Week events have been held in childcare centres, schools, community groups, churches, businesses and federal, state and local government agencies across Australia.

What is Harmony Day?

It is a time to celebrate Australian multiculturalism, and the successful integration of migrants into our community. Australia is one of the most successful multicultural countries in the world and we should celebrate this and work to maintain it. Harmony Day is about inclusiveness, respect and belonging for all Australians, regardless of cultural or linguistic background, united by a set of core Australian values.

How we celebrated

On 21 March 2019, Cecil Hills High School celebrated Harmony Day.  Students participated in many activities including lessons and discussions surrounding what Harmony Day represents and embodies.

There were two assemblies that showcased and celebrated the wonderful cultural diversity within our school community.  The assembly opened with a beautiful rendition of the Australian National Anthem sung by Year 10 students, Edwin Tarawali and Violeta Bozanic.

We were fortunate enough to have Biola Jongkor, the Youth Ambassador  from the Multicultural Youth Affairs Network of NSW speak at our assembly.  She shared with us her thoughts and experiences relating to multiculturalism and Harmony day.

Mr Sutton addressed the assembly. His speech emphasised the pride we have in the great diversity of cultures present at our school. When we consider all our students, eighty eight different countries are represented. Mr Sutton proudly named each and every one of these countries!

The performances from the students at the assembly were amazing and they highlighted the beauty of the many different cultures represented. A wonderful feeling of harmony and inclusiveness was present.

The performances included:

• A mesmerising traditional Polynesian performance (the ‘Sasa’) with singing and dancing that transported us to the Pacific Islands.   
• Scott Hoang of Year 11 amazed us with his musical talent once again by playing a beautiful traditional Vietnamese piece “Diem Xua” on the piano.
• A large group of students from our Serbian community performed a wonderful traditional group folk dance.
• Yona Ofy and Cassey Chau of Year 11 performed a beautiful rendition of the Mariah Carey classic “Hero”.
• The THQ Lion Dance and Martial Arts group performed traditional lion dancing. It was lively, energetic and very entertaining, and a number of our current and past students were involved.

Principal's Speech

We are pleased to share with you an extract from Mr Sutton's Harmony Day speech:

HARMONY DAY

Since 1999, Harmony Day has been celebrated every year on this date, 21 March, and coincides with the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. The theme of Harmony Day is that “everyone belongs”.

Part of Harmony Day is recognising the success our country has had in taking people from around the world who need an opportunity, need a change, need a new life and making sure in Australia we give them the best head start.

OUR SCHOOL

Cecil Hills High School is an amazingly diverse place and we see our success each and every day.  Approximately 82% of our students have a non-English speaking background.  The most common languages spoken at home in our local community are Vietnamese, Arabic and Serbian, with other languages spoken including Krio, Dari, Tiwi, Shona and Bikol.

Our students are from diverse backgrounds and make our school unique and rich.  Our families come from countries including:

This illustrates that every day is Harmony Day here at Cecil Hills High School, which is the best school in NSW where students proudly share each others' differences and celebrate what they have in common.

Mark Sutton, Principal

Why Orange

Orange is the colour chosen to represent Harmony Week. Traditionally, orange signifies social communication and meaningful conversations. It also relates to the freedom of ideas and encouragement of mutual respect. 

Our cultural diversity

Australia is a vibrant and multicultural country — from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world.Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and is at the heart of who we are. It makes Australia a great place to live. An integrated multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural and religious traditions, as well as taking on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation.

Thank you

Thank you to our students, to our staff and to all our families for your hard work and contribution towards our very successful Harmony Day celebrations at Cecil Hills High School.

Ms Sahid, Mr Collins and the Diversity Team