CELEBRATING FIRST NATIONS CULTURE 

50 Years Deadly

Our Saints community celebrated NAIDOC in fine style last week. We extend our sincere appreciation to all the families who journeyed from the Torres Strait and Townsville, as well as to our Cairns families who supported the celebrations.

A special acknowledgement goes to Jamal (JJ) Parsgaard for his tremendous efforts in preparing our students for the dancing and singing, and for bringing together his family, musicians and singers to make the occasion so memorable.

Acknowledging our community

We are grateful to the many other people who contributed to making the event such a meaningful celebration:

• Mr Stephen Ung, an Old Boy and father of our current College Captain, Evan, for sharing an inspiring and heartfelt reflection.
• Ms Louise Manas, grandmother to two of our current students and mother of a former Saints student from the late 1990s, whose moving speech spoke of her gratitude for the education and care provided by the College.
• Mrs Irene Bailey, mother of our Saints Shop staff member, for stepping in at short notice to urgently sew for our dancers.

• Dragon Tours, for their care and diligence in transporting our students safely to and from the airport.

   

We also proudly recognised three staff members with our First Peoples Gratitude Award: Mr Andrew Dorahy, Mrs Christine Cross and Mr Toby McCarthy, acknowledging their contribution and commitment to our First Peoples community.

Most importantly, we celebrated our dancers and students who bravely took to the stage, sharing their talents, stories and voices with our community. Their hard work, courage and persistence were a wonderful reflection of the spirit of Saints.

It was a memorable celebration made possible by the generosity, commitment and involvement of so many across the Saints family.

You can view the whole assembly here: 

QATSIF Graduation

Two of our Year 12 students recently joined close to 100 other First Nations Year 12 graduates from the Cairns and Far North region for their QATSIF Graduation at JCU. Our two Year 12 students, supported by QATSIF since Year 11, were College Captain Evan Ung and Tyler McLaren. It was a great celebration of dedication and persistence for so many students who worked hard through their high school years. 

It was great to see Mr Haryne Uta, a Saints First Nation alumus. Haryne is a teacher who works as an educational researcher at JCU specialising in First Nations education.

Mount St Bernard College put on an energetic Torres Strait performance and JCU provided a splendid meal for the celebration.

Many thanks to the QATSIF team for organising this event.

Inter-college collaboration celebrating NAIDOC

Congratulations to the following Saints' First Nations students: Andronikos Petrou, Ron Wasiu, Thomas King, Zeljko Strok-Warrior and JJ Parsgaard. They joined Newman College's NAIDOC celebrations, were warmly welcomed by staff and were impressed with the fantastic facilities. 

Newman College held a lively and culturally enriching Aboriginal dance performance. There were also speeches and formal welcomes. Two Newman students from Erub and one Newman staff members performed two dances from Erub Island. A Newman staff member and the five St Augustine's students sang.

Before the performance, our students and St Augustine's College were recognised by Newman College and commended for contributing to our brother college's assembly. We look forward to attending it again.