NAIDOC DAY
Hi, we’re Felix and Luca, two of the School Ambassadors this year. One of our roles is to write regular articles for the Dhumbadjirri and this week we’d like to tell you about our celebrations for NAIDOC day last Thursday.
NAIDOC stands for National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee. The National NAIDOC Week website gives the following explanation:
“National NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia in the first week of July each year (Sunday to Sunday), to celebrate and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. NAIDOC Week is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about First Nations cultures and histories and participate in celebrations of the oldest, continuous living cultures on earth.”
The theme this year was The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy
Our school celebrated NAIDOC over a massive day of fun, learning and celebration.
Before school there was face painting, free breakfast in the form of cheese toasties and a coffee van. Then, we participated in a powerful Acknowledgement of Country and smoking ceremony with Uncle Chris. (Uncle Chris is not from Wurundjeri Country, so he made the point that he needed to acknowledge Country.)
Then, students were mixed into groups of either 5/6s, 3/4s or Preps, 1s and 2s. These groups completed three activities, such as:
Years 3 - 6:
- Art with Arika where we painted wood and bark with Aboriginal symbols.
- Storytelling with Micah where we learned a new Aboriginal language with Kim's uncle.
- Literacy/Art Stamp painting & bead making where we painted air-dry circles with indigenous markings that we had created a few days before.
- Traditional games in the park
- Drama games and small group improvising around the theme of Strength, Vision and Legacy
Years Prep - 2:
- Drama games and responding to a story around the theme of Strength, Vision and Legacy
- Traditional games on the astro turf
- Literacy/Art Stamp painting & bead making where we painted air-dry circles with Indigenous markings that we had created a few days before.
- Gardening with Emily
- Wurundjeri Cultural Activity with Uncle Chris
The afternoon was spent at Assembly, where a number of Year 5/6 students spoke about the history and their personal connection to NAIDOC day.
Then, we had an awesome afternoon listening and dancing to tunes by DJ Built Differently, who were amazing! We also ate lots of free sausages, scones and fruit
Here are some quotes from TPS students about the day:
Caspian: “It was fun. I liked everything about it but I also got tired quickly but I really enjoyed the painting.”
Cleo: “I thought the smoking ceremony was very fun.”
Arlie: “At first I thought I couldn't do it, but I actually did an awesome, awesome job because I believed in myself and went into the learning pit.”
Djamalan: “I was so good at maths, I went in the learning pit and I stuck in the learning pit for a long, long time but eventually I got out of the learning pit and overcame the problems.”
Yuna: “I really enjoyed the smoking ceremony. I enjoyed walking through the smoke.”
Connor: “I liked the special breakfast, smoking ceremony, barbecue and the speech. My favourite part was the DJ.”
Mia: “I enjoyed the DJ disco that came after school. My favourite activity was Marngrook.”
Olive: “I especially liked the marngrook, except a lot of people fell over.”
Violet: “It was very fun but the one I most enjoyed was the Marngrook ."
Teddy: “All the activities were really fun but I especially liked art.”
Wolfie: “It was a very fun day, the cheese toasties in the morning were a very good start and all the activities were very fun.”
Margot: “I felt very connected and I enjoyed every second of it.”
Ethan: “It was well structured, but I thought the older kids should have done more sports. Overall it was a very fun day.”
June: “It was really fun and a new experience, the guests and activities were very good.”