CELEBRATING FIRST NATIONS CULTURE 

Our Indigenous Student Leaders Enjoyed a Night  of Culture and Inspiration

Three of our student leaders recently attended a special event at St Mary’s Catholic College, Woree. It was named, Nulung Kayn Kasi. Nulung is a Gimuy Walubarra Yindinji word for leader. Kayn Kasi is a Kalaw Kawaw Ya, (KKY from the Torres Straits) word for young shoot.

The evening was to highlight all the Indigenous students in Catholic schools and colleges who had been elected to leadership roles at their colleges. It was great to see so many students in many different leadership roles. 

Saints students were Trey Tapim, JJ Parsgaard and Torres Sabatino. Trey, in Year 9, was recently elected to the Students Representative Council (SRC). Congratulations! Trey and JJ Parsgaard from the Torres Strait and Torres Sabatino from Bamaga display their leadership through mentoring other students and are always involved in assisting with traditional cultural aspects at the College. All three are full-time boarders. 

The night was organised by the Directorate of First Nations Education and attended by our Bishop, Joe Caddy, many Indigenous Elders from the Cairns community and Division 4 Councillor Mr Trevor Tim. The dancers from Mount St Bernard College in Herberton gave us all a great display of Torres Strait Island dancing.

The special guest speaker was St Monica’s College alumna, Ms Mikaela French.

Trey said of the night, “It was a very welcoming and diverse gathering, and I believe that is where future leaders were born.”

Torres' comments were, “The leaders event was very inspirational, as Indigenous leaders were presented with their leadership badgers, and we heard from the Elders what it means to be leaders and how proud we should be of ourselves.”

JJ said, “It was an inspirational night. The speakers were excellent, and they all had a positive message. It was great to meet other leaders from the many different colleges.”

It was a thoroughly enjoyable event. Congratulations to the Directorate of First Nations Education team for organising it, and congratulations to all the elected student leaders.