Principal

This week’s newsletter falls in the middle of National Reconciliation Week, a long-standing initiative of Reconciliation Australia. National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements and explore how we can contribute to reconciliation in Australia. This year’s theme is ‘Bridging Now to Next’. Following our participation in the Reconciliation Week Walk on Tuesday, our Year 10 students held a fundraiser at lunchtime in support of the Watarrka Foundation, which works with the Lilla community in the Watarrka region. Lilla is the focal point of the Year 10 Central Australia trip, which has deepening cultural understanding as one of its main aims. 

I am proud to live in a country home to the longest continuing culture in the world, and Reconciliation Week is a time to learn about this culture. Increasing our understanding of another culture is never a zero-sum game. One cultural tradition is not diminished by seeking to understand another. By seeking to understand a history that has created objectively more difficult conditions for Indigenous Australians on every measure of success and life happiness, we contribute to the betterment of our country. Such understanding also reduces racism, which has no place at The Hamilton and Alexandra College. It seems absurd to even write that – of course it doesn’t; racist attitudes are outdated, irrational, harmful, and adverse to the prosperity and happiness of all Australians. We will continue proudly working to increase our students’ understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and histories as a central part of fully understanding their own country.