FIRE Carrier

News

Term 2 saw our Year 5 and 6 FIRE Carriers celebrate National Reconciliation Week with the whole school. They helped run a full week of activities from Indigenous story time in the Library, to outdoor games and some arts and crafts.

Indigenous Story Time

We read the book ‘Welcome to Country’ by Wurrundjeri elder Aunty Joy Murphy. This beautiful and symbolic book takes the reader through the different levels of the land, from the deep streams and waterways to the skies. It includes Indigenous artwork and symbols to support the story.

Following the story the students had a go at creating their own narrative using Indigenous symbols. They wrote these symbols on gum leaf templates and created a story wreath.

Sports and Games

Sports, like football, are so heavily ingrained into Indigenous culture. When you visit an Indigenous community it is likely a football match will be playing and the students will be curving the ball barefoot.

To celebrate this some of the FIRE Carriers ran a match of ‘Marngrook’ (meaning “game ball”). This is a traditional Indigenous football game, played mostly in Victoria. The aim of the game is less about scoring goals and more about the skills you can show.

Other FIRE Carriers taught students how to play ‘Boogalah’. This game is played by coastal groups. Half the players form a large circle, while the rest gather in the center. The ball is thrown into the air and players from both the inner and outer groups compete to catch it. The side that keeps possession the longest wins.

Both games were a lot of fun and students enjoyed doing something different at play time.

Arts and Crafts

Lastly, the FIRE Carriers helped run an art session where students could choose an Australian animal template. They needed to use lines, dots and patterns to creatively decorate their chosen animal. Students chose colours that linked to the habitats of their chosen animal, for example blues and greens were used to decorate a turtle, whereas reds and oranges were used to decorate a kangaroo.

What does reconciliation mean to me?

National Reconciliation Week is always important for all of us to get involved in and celebrate our Indigenous Australians. They are the oldest, continuing culture in the world and we should feel proud of that. A lot of people find it difficult to understand what ‘reconciliation’ means. The FIRE Carriers took some time to think about this term and then provided the following answers:

“trying to make amends in the past for a better future”

"joining people together”

“that no matter who you are we are the same”

“being able to say sorry and trying to make us all equal”

“is a way of joining together”

“Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people unite and set aside their differences”

Term 3 & 4

We have lots of fun things planned for Term 3 & 4 that we can’t wait to share with you. First, mark week 2 of Term 3 in your diary as we will be celebrating NAIDOC week, which is held nationally during our school holidays.

Our school choir will be participating in Busking for Change, which raises money and awareness for the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Lastly, we will be having a whole school community event to celebrate our Indigenous people and their culture. Stay tuned for more information!