CELEBRATING FIRST NATIONS CULTURE 

Celebrating NAIDOC Week

Saints celebrated NAIDOC Week in fine fashion at a recent college assembly. The theme was "Keep the fire burning". In my address at the assembly, I related that theme to education. If we want the fire to keep burning, we need to keep learning. Only through embracing such attributes as persistence, commitment, courage, diligence, gratitude, respect and responsibility, can we achieve a transformative education here at Saints. All students have the choice to engage fully in what we offer. 

Sincere thanks are due to many people: 

• All who performed and participated in the presentation of our First Nations culture, especially to our student dancers and JJ Parsgaard’s family members who flew from Townsville to assist in the performances. 
• Our Saints First Nations Old Boy from 2010, Mr Haryne Uta. 
• The students who found the courage to stand on stage and give a speech.
•  Director of Mission Ms Christine Cross without whose support and encouragement such great events would not occur.

The entire assembly can be viewed here. 

                                          Haryne’s speech begins at the 43.00 mark.

                              The main traditional dance performance is at the 58.25 mark.

Haryne was one our first IYLP Scholarship students. These were initially a government- funded scheme that allowed families from remote communities to send their sons and daughters to high academic achieving schools. It was an initiative of the government's Closing the Gap push.

From Haryne’s speech, we can verify the fact that, despite the odds stacked against him, he took full advantage of what he was offered and made the best choices one could make. He worked hard and gave it his all. Haryne is grateful to Saints for giving him an education in a place that respected his culture and traditions, cared for him and was transformative in its nature. Please listen to his speech.

Once again, sincere thanks to all who participated in our NAIDOC Assembly.

Scholarship Leaders Gathering Dinner

To kick start our NAIDOC Week celebrations, we held our annual Scholarship Leaders Gathering Dinner at the College on Wednesday 24 July.

As usual our Tolle's dining room chefs and other staff served us a tantalising meal. This dinner is held for students from St Monica's and St Augustine's who are on scholarships. 

Four main scholarship groups support them: AIEF (Australian Indigenous Education Foundation), IYLP The Smith Family: Indigenous Youth Leadership Program, WCCCA Western Cape Communities Committee Agreement and QATSIF Queensland Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Foundation. Both colleges are extremely grateful to these organisations for funding and supporting these students. 

Our special guest speakers were Able Seaman Foster, Mr Kosta Foster, a previous AIEF student, elder brother to Nassar Foster currently in Year 10, and Mr Haryne Uta, previously an IYLP student, and uncle to a few students at the College. Both men spoke of their memorable time as Saints boarding students right through high school. Both recounted how Saints provided a solid foundation for their ability to successfully navigate the world of work after graduating. They both learnt to be resilient, respectful, responsible and to be grateful for what they have and what they were given. Haryne, spoke of how Saints was for him transformative. He emphasised the respect and acceptance we had for traditional culture which made him feel safe to be himself and thrive academically, socially and culturally.

Sincere thanks to St Monica's Indigenous Liaison Officer Ms See Kee  and the St Monica’s students who assisted with the evening's proceedings, giving speeches and preparing the room. Thanks also to JJ Parsgaard and Kirtisha Foster for brilliantly hosting the evening. And special thanks to JJ’s family for travelling up for our NAIDOC celebrations and performing a traditional blessing for the food and the evening.

Five of Our First Nations Students Graduate

Five of our Year 12 students recently attended the North Queensland schools section of the Queensland and Torres Strait Islander Foundation (QATSIF) Graduation Ceremony at JCU. 

Our students, on QATSIF Bursaries, looked the part in their college blazers as they accepted their certificates of accomplishment in front of a packed JCU lecture theatre at Smithfield. Thank you to the parents who joined us for this special occasion.

These students need to be congratulated for persevering to Year 12. These men of Saints don't have long to go, and I've urged them to keep working hard right to the end of  the academic year. Also, they should be congratulated for their excellent behaviour while at the university.

The QATSIF group put on a fantastic ceremony.  We were treated to Torres Strait traditional dancers from Mount St Bernard College, Herberton; a wonderful guitar singer- songwriter, again from Herberton; a motivational, almost evangelical, speaker and Elders giving us advice and words of wisdom.

We were also lucky to chat with Saints alumnus from 2010, Mr Haryne Uta. Mr Uta is a primary school teacher employed at JCU as an education mentor/guidance officer. Congratulations Haryne. 

Sincere gratitude to QATSIF and the team from Brisbane, and thanks to the JCU staff for an excellent morning.