INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY
Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Education We honour and respect the Traditional Owners of the Land on which St Joseph’s College stands, the Wadawurrung people of the Kulin Nation, who have continued to educate their children since time of immemorial in this area. We thank the Wadawurrung people for passing on the stories of this Land and promise to honour their teachings. We pay our respects to Elders; past, present and future. We are inspired and nurtured by their wisdom, spirituality and experience. We commit ourselves to actively work alongside the Wadawurrung people for reconciliation and justice. “You are part of Australia and Australia is part of you. And the Church herself in Australia will not be fully the Church that Jesus wants her to be until you have made your contribution to her life and until that contribution has been joyfully received by others.” St John Paul II crafted this statement to light a fire in the hearts of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholics that led to the establishment of Aboriginal Catholic Ministries and the creation of the FIRE Carrier Project that began with the dream of weaving Aboriginal culture, history and spirituality throughout the fabric of our Catholic Identity as we strive to become fully the school that Jesus wants us to become. Our FIRE Carriers for 2020 have continued to show commitment for laying strong foundations based on mutual respect and understanding and will continue this journey throughout 2021 along with the 2021 FIRE Carriers. Launch of the SJC Reconciliation Action Plan In June of this year we celebrated the launch of our Reconciliation Australia Narragunnawali Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and unveiled our Possum Skin Cloak display. Our RAP calls us to walk together along a pathway of mutual liberation by viewing our world through the lenses of Respect, Relationships and Opportunities. Just as Blessed Edmund Rice saw education as the key that opened the doors to a just world for all our Reconciliation Action Plan respectfully embeds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into our daily practices as we become a place that witnesses authentic reconciliation based on justice, equity, equality and healing. One of the major projects of our RAP is to audit our current
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curriculum to identify the extent to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures, and contributions are already embedded, and to identify opportunities for strengthening the representation of this content in the curriculum. This process was strengthened when the staff participated in the First People’s Narrative workshop. A most powerful and moving experience for all staff as we listened to Kathy Travers and Aunty Sue Collins share their story of the stolen generations. It proved to be a deeply moving opportunity for development of cultural competency through a process of “unlearning of the colonial narrative” and relearning through the lens of compassion as the motivating force necessary for the building of a culturally safe learning environment where all members of our community learn together through a curriculum that has been liberated from the injustices and untruths of colonisation. Possum Skin Cloak Display Kaleb Owen is a proud Taungurung man and the 2019 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Captain and the initiator of the College Possum Skin Cloak project. A sacred expression of traditional South Eastern Aboriginal peoples. Kaleb could see the value and significance that the presence of a Possum Skin Cloak would have for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, their families and for all members of the wider community. Mitch Mahoney is an emerging artist and a descendant of the Boon Wurrung and Barkindji peoples of south-eastern Australia and acted as our Cloak Facilitator. The students learnt every aspect of the preparation and the making of the Cloak. Kaleb and Mitch spent a great deal of time helping and encouraging the boys to decide on their own individual symbol that would be added to the cloak. All of the boys came to understand the importance of the legacy that they were providing. The Cloak is on display in a glass cabinet in the Edmund Rice Campus Reception foyer and it will continue to be worn by our future Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders for all significant College events. The Cloak is a very strong symbol of welcome to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families as they join the College community and represents a deep and abiding respect for the resilience and strength of Indigenous Culture.
Working on the cloak
