Director of Identity 

Next Friday August 5 we play our annual Treaty Match at beginning at midday on the JPC Oval. This is an important day in the reconciliation aspirations of our College, where we formally acknowledge the handshake Treaty between the colonial Government’s representative, George Augustus Robinson and the leader of the North Eastern Pairrebeenne clan, Mannalargenna on August 6 1831. The AFL footy match will be played by students in Year 9 and 10, and will be preceded by a Welcome to Country and Smoking ceremony. We will be joined by members of the Tasmanian Aboriginal community and our wider College community, including visitors from EREA and Catholic and government schools. 

With the publication last year of the St Virgil’s College tunapri makuminya Project we have become active within a compelling movement inviting us to consider alternatives to the way we currently occupy this Country. We have been affirmed for our courageous actions which question how we view, understand and ultimately act in regard to land ownership both as a nation and as a learning community and the ways in which we have begun to listen to the many different voices that need to be heard, including those of the palawa/pakana people, their ancestors and of Country itself.

Our willingness to being open to conversations about land ownership and occupation have been recognised locally and nationally, with our community receiving Reconciliation Australia’s Narragunnawali Schools Award in November 2021. In the formation and implementation of our Reconciliation Action Plan, we have ensured that Tasmanian Aboriginal voices are heard and valued. This has been pivotal in establishing ourselves as a community ready to move from Safe to Brave and is an authentic expression of our Touchstone of Justice and Solidarity.