Acknowledgement of Country

All classes in Junior School started the year learning about Acknowledgements of Country. Students wrote Acknowledgements and created artworks to display them.

The work is part of our ongoing commitment to develop a greater understanding and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history while learning to respect and value the ongoing connection to Country.

Elken in Year 3 described the process of creating their combined artwork:

"We learned about Country by reading a book written by Adam Goodes then going out onto Country.  Our teacher asked us to collect some sticks that were certain sizes.  We had a surprise when one morning we noticed she had weaved them together into a spider web.  It was our job then to collect things from the sea, sky and land to weave into the web.  Our artwork shows that all things are connected.  An important word we learned was custodian.  The Darkinjung were the first custodians of this Country. Now we are too."

Sam in Year 5 shared how they made their Acknowledgement of Country:

"Before we made our Acknowledgement of Country we read the book We Are Australians. We learned about caring for Country. We listened to some examples of Acknowledgements of Country then worked in small groups to write our own. For our artwork we went out into Country here at school and collected leaves.  We used Posca pens to decorate them and then put them together into a shield design. It represents all of Darkinjung Country  - the land, the sea, the sky, the Elders and all the connections."

Year 6 have been involved in creating two Acknowledgements of Country – one in their own classes and one with their Kindergarten buddies. Tahmeika in Year 6 explained the process:

"Custodianship was a really important concept we discussed.  It was rewarding to help teach our Kindy buddies about this idea as we walked around the school, collecting things from Country to display in their classrooms. It was exciting too, to see how enthusiastic they were about all their nature discoveries."

- Pictured left to right Year 3, Year 5 and Year 6 with Kindergarten Acknowledgement of Country -