Reconciliation Action Plan News 

SVC Reconciliation Action Plan

• Respect Around the School – Visibly Demonstrate Respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures

Last Saturday marked Cricket Australia’s Reconciliation Round where players across the country are encouraged to Acknowledge Country in a barefoot circle, connecting with the land under their feet and reflecting upon the fact that for tens of thousands of years Aboriginal people have played games of their own on these lands. Our boys in the First XI wore their reconciliation shirts which were created to mirror the designs of our Reconciliation Football jumpers, worn for the first time by our Footballers in our Inaugural Treaty match played last year on August 6.

The barefoot circle is a ceremony created by Cricket Australia as an outward sign that players and team members are committing themselves to Reconciliation and ‘acknowledging historical truths, both positive and negative, so that they can celebrate and reflect on success and right the wrongs of past events.’ (Cricket Australia RAP Respect: Action 7)

St Virgil’s College is committed to Reconciliation, and it was significant that our Acknowledgement of Country during our Barefoot Circle was led by members of our Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group, Mr Mark Waddington, coach of the First XI and proud Tasmanian Aboriginal man Mr Heath Nichols, father of Lachie SVC 2020 and Xavier SVC 2021. Also present was College Principal Mr Jon Franzin who was witness to a proud and courageous match held against the stunning backdrop of kunanyi/Mt Wellington in superb conditions. The boys certainly honoured the reconciliation spirit by the manner in which they played, and Launceston Grammar were lucky to walk away with the win!

• Opportunities with Community - Local Sites, Events and Excursions

This year during our Year 7 transition programme New Beginnings our Outdoor Education Team have included an ‘Aboriginal Perspectives on Country’ experience as an important part of their amazing programme at Cliftonvale. High up on the top hill all our Year 7s have spent significant and meaningful time in the company of Aboriginal Cultural Educators, Jamie Graham Blair, and Trent Prouse (SVC 2013). The positive and sincere engagement between these proud young palawa mentors and the newest members of our College community has helped to introduce to them the importance of Reconciliation at St Virgil’s College and given them the opportunity to sit amongst this ancient midlands landscape, imagining in realistic terms the lives of the First Nations people who have lived in this place for more than forty-five thousand years, as told to them by the descendants of these Nations. The boys had plenty of time to ask questions, share stories and even tried eating some of the native vegetation surrounding them. 

We sincerely thank Trent, Jamie, and the Outdoor Ed team and look forward to extending some of this important learning back in the classroom in the coming weeks.