Language & Culture Program
SORRY DAY at THORNBURY PRIMARY SCHOOL
A big THANK YOU to:
Regina Edwards-Penrith, Wurundjeri girl and 3/4 student, for Welcoming us to Country.
The Grade 5/6 students who performed a burndap-dhak (very good/excellent) rendition of ‘Our Song’ by Dr. Deborah Chettham AO (Australian Opera).
Finley Francois - Piano Teacher who accompanied the students with his wonderful piano
expertise. Simon Dooner, 5/6S teacher, for organising the 5/6 Grades with their rehearsals leading up to our special Sorry Day assembly and with their performance on the day. Eddie Oberlicher, Music Teacher, for supporting the Grade 5/6 rehearsals of the song
There are two Gunditjmara words used in the song: ‘Wilan’ which is the black cockatoo, the protector of the Gunditjmara people, and ‘Ngatanwarr’, which is the Portland/Gunditjmara word for Welcome. Some of our Koorie students have deep and
strong connections to Gunditjmara Country.
AUNTY TERRI's SORRY DAY SPEECH
I would like to acknowledge that we are present on Wurundjeri country, land of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to all indigenous members of our community – our elders for they hold all knowledge of the past, our young parents for they hold the present, and our students for they bear our future. The land, upon which we are gathered, IS,
WAS and ALWAYS WILL BE, Aboriginal land.
One of the very special things about Thornbury Primary School is its connection to indigenous children and their families. When I first came to Melbourne, I sought this school out because I knew there was a Koorie population here and I had heard of the many wonderful things that had, and continue to, take place here, particularly the programs and events which pay respect to indigenous people and our cultures, and which acknowledge and recognise the value of learning our indigenous stories and histories.
Today, we are gathered here together for another very special event. Today is Sorry Day, and by gathering together and acknowledging this day, Thornbury Primary School, pays respect to the ‘Stolen Generations’, the generations of children who were forcibly taken from their families by governments of the past, and thrust into a completely unfamiliar
world. Generations of indigenous children have suffered such profound grief and loss, a loss of families, country, language, and culture, a loss, which they and their own families that have come after them, continue to feel the effects of, to this day. The end result of
which has been a deep sorrow in the psyche and spirit of many Indigenous individuals, families and communities throughout Australia.
My own great-grandfather on my mother’s side, was removed from his family, from his country, from his language and culture, and taken hundreds of miles away to a mission near Broome, and forced to learn new ways – white man ways, of life and living. The loss my family feels today, is the disconnection we now have to the country where he came
from, and the families we will never know. We are only just reconnecting with the place from where he came – Ngarluma Country, W.A.
There are many children here today, whose families and lives have and in many cases, continue to be, impacted upon by what happened to the Stolen Generations. I was speaking to a student yesterday, about her grandmother who was taken away as a child – she has reminded me every year about this. We have several families in our school who
are only now, just finding out about and reconnecting with their indigenous heritage.
Back home in my country, in my language, we have a word, Liyan. Liyan is our spirit, it relates to our view of our wellbeing. We feel it in here. In the words of one of my elders, Uncle Pat Dodson, “it’s about the way we feel about ourselves, and our relationships with our community and the wider world. When we feel disrespected or abused, our liyan is bad. When our liyan is good, our wellbeing and everything else is in a good place.” I’m taking the liberty of speaking on behalf of our Indigenous students, including my mimis, my grandchildren. Our liyan is good, being here at Thornbury Primary, because here, being with and working alongside you, we feel a great sense of pride in who we are, and we acknowledge the sense of worth you place in hearing our stories and learning about our histories, which is your history too, and on this day, acknowledging our collective
history of what happened to the Stolen Generations. Let us remember them.