ACES Literacy Program

Our New SPS Acknowledgement of Country - An ACES Literacy Group Project

On the 2nd of May, the Year 5/6 Accelerate, Challenge and Extend (ACES) Literacy Group presented their new Acknowledgement of Country. This presentation included a slideshow with why we have an Acknowledgement of Country, how it is different from a Welcome to Country, how we did our research, the history of an Acknowledgement of Country, and our final product of the Acknowledgement of Country.

We did our research by searching up other Acknowledgements of Countries and recording interesting facts and ideas. When Australia was divided into nations, before the European settlement, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples would travel the country. Whenever they travelled into a new nation, they would do an Acknowledgement of Country, and in return the owners of the land would do a Welcome to Country. 

An Acknowledgement of Country says that you are meeting on land of the First Nations peoples. This gives us an opportunity to show respect for traditional owners and the connection to our land. The Aboriginals pay respect to our country, we pay respect to them. 

An Acknowledgement of Country is different from a Welcome to Country because an acknowledgement is saying thank you and we will respect the land and recognise elders. A Welcome to Country can only be done by a First Nations person and it is to welcome people to their land.

We did research individually and wrote our own Acknowledgement of Country before writing an Acknowledgement of Country together. We have included two lands because we are in the middle of two lands, Wurundjeri and Bunurong. 

The group created the new Acknowledgement of Country and we wrote, revised and edited it, then sent it to Mrs Hartley, Mrs Rheumer and Mrs Sheaf for some feedback.