Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Education ______Pages LIBERATING EDUCATION

from Virtus Yearbook 2020

Valete ____________________________________Page

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 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.

When our cloak is worn it is as if the wings of Bunjil are embracing the wearer. Reminding them that he always was and always will be with them in the same way that each of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students both past and present are. Our possum skin cloak is a powerful symbol of healing and reconciliation and has become an important expression of the cultural fabric of our College.

Graduating Students

We farewell two of our Year 12 students Flynn Kinsey and Tyson Neal. Both of these young men have shown great pride as leaders for the younger students. Tyson Neale, a proud Gunditjmarra and Arrernte man met with Mark Kennedy (Deputy Principal) to discuss his plan for creating a space for his peers to sit down and talk. He was joined by 2020 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Captain, Flynn Kinsey who is a proud Wadawurrung man, and their friend Colin Holt to lead the first Yarning Circle in the Cricket Pavilion. This event became one of the most highly significant and powerful events of 2020. We are all very proud of all that Tyson and Flynn have achieved during their time at the College and we wish great success for the future. We look forward to welcoming them back to the College in the future to share their experiences and to continue to be connected to the College. As a school, we need to ensure that first nation’s voices need to be heard and acknowledged and to ensure that we advocate for these communities. We also need to continue completing professional learning and development in this area so that we can better cater for the needs of our students.