ABORIGINAL EDUCATION
NAIDOC 2025
Wow!!!
Our fourth annual St Columba’s NAIDOC day did not disappoint!!! What a fabulous day we shared celebrating NAIDOC’s 50th year of honouring Indigenous voices, culture and resilience. Our NAIDOC day also honoured local Awabakal Country as well as the 2025 NAIDOC theme, The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy
Our day began with a beautiful Morning Ceremony, led by Stephanie Phoenix of the Gringai clan, Wonnaruah nation and Mauri Perry, a proud Worimi man. Students were led through a traditional smoking and a dance display, encompassing some of our Aboriginal students.
Following our Morning Ceremony, students then rotated to various hands-on workshops. They included;
‘Traditional Dance interwoven with Hip Hop' workshop led by Hilary McEntyre, a proud Worimi woman and owner of the local business, 'Dreamtime Dance Company'. Students loved learning traditional dance movements with a hip hop 'spin'.
'Local Bush Tucker Tasting' workshop led by Stephanie Phoenix. Students bravely tasted many native plants and meats including crocodile, emu and wallaby. They also enjoyed their own drink using native ingredients.
‘Aboriginal Culture Through Digital Music’ workshop led by Kaleb Green, a proud Worimi man and music produce. Students experimented with sounds from nature and created their own class songs using digital technologies.
‘Connecting with Message Sticks’ workshop led by Daniel Durston, proud Awabakal man and teacher at Trinity College, Adamstown, along with Aboriginal high school students from Trinity College. Our students made their own wooden message stick and explored the long cultural practice of these. In commemoration of our day, all message sticks from each class will combine to create a message stick display.
‘War Cry and Clearing Dance’ workshop led by Maurice Perry. Male students learnt a war cry as part of ‘men’s business’ and female students learnt a clearing dance as part of ‘women’s business’.
‘Cool Coolamons’ workshop led by proud Awabakal woman, Kirsty Keelan. Students loved learning about and making their own coolamons using air dry clay.
‘NAIDOC Poster Art’ workshop led by classroom teachers. Students explored the official NAIDOC artwork, ‘Ancestral Lines’ by Jeremy Worrall and coloured in their own outline of this artwork.
Our Closing Ceremony concluded our day. All male students came together and performed the war cry they had learnt in Mauri’s workshop. All female students came together and performed the clearing dance they had also learnt in Mauri’s workshop.
In our ongoing effort to strengthen relationships within our school community, it was lovely to have some family members take up our invitation to join us for the Morning and Closing ceremonies. We were also proud to host Kate Levido from the Catholic Schools Office.
Significant Cultural Events
4th August: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day
Children’s Day is a time Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities, and all Australians, celebrate the strengths and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
It is a chance for us to learn about the importance of culture, family and community in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
Click HERE for more information
9th August: United Nations International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples
First declared by the United Nations in 1994, the International Day of Indigenous Peoples aims to strengthen international awareness and cooperation for solutions to the problems faced by First Nations people in areas such as human rights, development, the environment, education and health. The day marks the first meeting of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, held in Geneva in 1982.
There are an estimated 370 million indigenous peoples in some 90 countries around the world. They make up less than 5% of the world’s population, but account for 15% of the poorest. They speak an overwhelming majority of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages and represent 5,000 different cultures.
Click HERE for more information
Danielle ShawAboriginal and Torres Strait Island Education Teacher
