NAIDOC Celebrations

On Tuesday 25th August, we held our NAIDOC assembly around the theme 

“Always was, always will be”

Under normal circumstances we would usually celebrate NAIDOC week with guests and performances, although this year COVID-19 saw us celebrate in a different way. We rely on community involvement for our celebrations to be successful, this year St Mary’s students and staff were treated to some VIP shout out’s and acknowledgements throughout our assembly.

We had video footage from past alumni students, parents and role models such as Joel Thompson from the Manly Sea Eagles, Jarron Andy, Mau Power and George Rose and The NITV crew from Over the Black Dot.

Although the highlight of the event was the student participation which included acknowledgement of country, prayer and the Year 9 History class. Congratulations to India Dorante, Salmui Farrar, Madeleine Griffiths and Kelci Jia who received QATSIF certificates of graduation and Saige Christison for her winning design for this year's NAIDOC shirt.

We also congratulate two winners for the QATSIF Creative Arts Competition Quinn Go Sam on his 2nd place win, a carved shield painted and interpreted his artistic vision ‘In This Together.’ 

The clip and music used for the flag entrance was written, performed and produced by Georgiana Thomas-Peddell around this year’s theme ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’. This piece was initially created for a music task here at school and then entered into the competition winning her first place!

We would like to thank everyone who got involved in painting banners, technical support, costumes, stage setup and the general running of the event. We look forward to our next community gathering.

God bless

Zanthie Horgan and Carmel Debel