NAIDOC Week

For Our Elders

For this year’s NAIDOC Week, the theme was ‘For Our Elders’. What a fantastic opportunity to pay our respect to Indigenous elders, leaders and change makers, as part of the celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, culture and excellence. At our NAIDOC assembly we sought to acknowledge the Wurundjeri Elders, in particular past Elders Simon Wonga and William Barak, who were so instrumental in the struggle for fighting for rights for their own people, and the leadership of Coranderrk. 

We also wanted to honour Aboriginal Christian leaders, both past and present. We heard from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Christian leader Safina Stewart, speak about her Elders and the importance of listening deeply to the wisdom, cultural knowledge, vision and deep knowing of the Elders. Safina is a past MECS parent and currently works with Common Grace. 

We heard from Primary and Secondary that honouring the knowledge and wisdom of Elders, leaders and change makers extends well outside one week, indeed it is shown by imbedding Aboriginal perspectives throughout the curriculum. This covers a wide range of areas from first encounters to Care of Country to civil and land rights movements, to the Year 10 Discovering Country trip. It was also great to see an impressive display of Primary artwork.

As part of the assembly, we were also privileged to hear from former MECS student, Adam Drake, who works with young people, including Indigenous youth in detention centres in the Northern Territory. Adam shared about his life and work, and of the huge impact that MECS and in particular Centre Trip had on him. The students loved spending time with Adam, hearing his experiences, and participating in a variety of physical activities.

Natalie Thomas 

Secondary Teacher