The Rift - A collaborative art project

We are very fortunate to be the recipients of a Regional Arts Victoria initiative: Creative Workers in Schools. Through this initiative RAV have employed Hermione Merry, a local multi-disciplinary artist and teacher, to work at our Etty Street Campus for 6 months to develop an arts project in conjunction with our students.

All of our VCAL and FLO classes at Etty Street have been spending a double period each week with Hermione working on their group piece titled ‘The Rift’. The Rift is a multi arts installation to be presented to our community later in the year. It tells the story of our students, the places they go, the way they move through our community and their adolescence, making the shift from youth to adulthood in small town Castlemaine.

Follow their Instagram account to keep an eye on their progress: @the_rift_csc

Sorry Day 2021

Observed annually on 26 May, National Sorry Day remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, which we now know as ‘The Stolen Generations’.

In addition to our school captains speaking publicly at the local Sorry Day event at the Market Building on the day, CSC students also engaged in an Extended Mentor sessions learning about Sorry Day, to commemorate and better understand the impacts of the Stolen Generations and to consider how we can meaningfully work toward towards Reconciliation. Students watched a presentation which included information and videos about the Stolen Generations and then responded with an activity that invited students to communicate their reflections and intentions through the making of “Hands” for display in Mentor rooms (see images).

Video: “Stolen Generation Resource Kit for Teachers and Students - Florence Onus and her granddaughter” (3:15) - The Healing Foundation

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/JOQ12Lc2JGY?autoplay=1&iv_load_policy=3&loop=1&modestbranding=1&playlist=JOQ12Lc2JGY

Video: “Intergenerational Trauma Animation” (4:01) - The Healing Foundation

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/vlqx8EYvRbQ?autoplay=1&iv_load_policy=3&loop=1&modestbranding=1&playlist=vlqx8EYvRbQ

We acknowledge the Djaara People as the traditional owners of Dja Dja Wurrung Country (Djandak) on which we work, live, and learn each day and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters, and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present, and emerging. We acknowledge that Sovereignty has never been ceded.

We acknowledge the box-ironbark forests that surround us and nurture us with the birds, like ravens (waa) and magpie (gurruk), that call and fly about, the eucalypts (dju wurrk) and acacias (warrarrak) that stand and sway in the winds, the orchids, rocks, and the waterways that flow throughout them.

We seek to learn about, from, and with First Nations peoples and their cultures ...

CSC Captain Elwyn's speach to the community at the Sorry Day in Castlemaine

Hello, firstly, I would just like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which I live and work, the Dja Dja (Ja Ja) Wurrung people. I would like to acknowledge their continuing connection to land, water and community. Their relationship with earth and country allows us to see the beauty in Australia. I admire that relationship, and I pay my respects to the elders past, present and emerging that will continue this connection. Acknowledging that sovereignty was never ceded (seeded).

My name is Elwyn, and I am one of the Castlemaine Secondary College school captains for 2021.

On behalf of Castlemaine Secondary College, we are sorry. Sorry Day, is a day of mourning and the start of Reconciliation Week. It is a day to remember and acknowledge the horror inflicted on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who were forcibly removed from their families and communities, which we now know as 'The Stolen Generations'.

Today is the 23rd official Sorry Day, and still we have further to go to raise awareness of the history and continued intergenerational trauma of the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from their families, communities and culture.

I reflect on Indigenous culture and admire their commitment and ‘connection’. The connection elders have with future generations. The connection Indigenous Australians have with Country.

The connection with the land around them; the water that fills the creeks, rivers and lakes;

the wildlife that sleeps under our feet and dances above our heads and the nature which surrounds it. The connection to Country Aborignal Australians hold is important, and is something everyone throughout the year should acknowledge.

I was taught about Indigenous wildlife and plants during my time at Winters Flat Primary School, where my class helped establish an Indigenous edible plants garden. We grew plants which I had heard of before, but I didn’t think of them as edible, like Cherry Ballart and Ruby Saltbush. When growing these plants, I also learnt about the Aboriginal Australian history of the area. These dreamtime stories opened my eyes to how significant this sacred landscape is. This land which has been destroyed in the past and is still being destroyed today.

Now, doing further research into the topic of indigenous flora in the area, I have found out that the Dja Dja Wurrung people created trails along the Loddon river to collect important plants. Which they also used for medicinal purposes, long before other Western cultures. Throughout thousands of generations, Aboriginal Australians’ sense of belonging, attachment, custodianship and responsibility for the maintenance of their natural environment is prevalent in their actions.

With their sense of belonging to significant places and landscapes, it is something to admire and learn from. Australians need to respect, acknowledge and become more educated about this, not only today but throughout the year.

The Aborignal people have been in Australia for hundreds of thousands of years. They hold a great knowledge of the local plants and sacred landscape. I am sorry to see and hear their connection to Country damaged by white settlers and past and present governments. Moving forward, people need to be educated about Australia’s past and the beautiful indigenous connection to country. At Castlemaine Secondary College, we need to take further action to improve Indigenous education and connection moving past reconciliation week. We need to acknowledge and amplify the voices of Aborignal Australians in our community, and speak up about the injustices they face. I personally, still need to educate myself more but with everyone on this journey together, more impactful action and education will bring a more just, equitable and reconciled country.

Thank you, Elwyn

Wellbeing & Cooking