06/06/2024
Last Friday, the whole College gathered around Breen Oval to celebrate First Nations culture, commit ourselves to reconciliation and launch the College’s RAP, which has been developed over the past couple of years by a team of staff, parents and community members.
We were blessed that the rain held off so we could be together and experience the powerful smoking ceremony led by an Old Boy of Christian Brothers’ High School, Lewisham, and the cultural dances graciously shared with us by students from the same school, under the guidance of Blake Griffiths. Our First Nations students and their families, as well as members of the RAP Committee and the College’s Identity Committee, took centre stage on the oval alongside our large Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags created by every member of St Patrick’s.Â
We heard from Junior School Captain, Marcus Donovan, about his cultural heritage, from Mrs Warsop, our First Nations Facilitator, about the development of our Plan, from senior students about how we can all be involved and from Deputy Principal, Mr Byrne, about how reconciliation is needed ‘now more than ever’, as well as acknowledging country, calling us all into prayer and the RAP being formally presented.
As a nation we still have much to do. It is not just about fixing problems that we were not here to cause, but about righting wrongs because we see the injustices that continue and making sure we don’t cause more problems into the future. Friday was a big step in this direction.
Thank you to everyone who was involved and to the young men who opened their minds and hearts to learn and grow. The RAP can be found here.
