Rockhampton Girls Grammar School NAIDOC celebrations have been an absolute hit this year.
In Week 1, our all school assembly celebrated NAIDOC and our indigenous students. We honoured this year’s theme of “For Our Elders” and we also celebrated our future generations with a wonderful performance by our Prep class. This play of Tiddalick the Frog paid homage to a classic Dreamtime story which promotes themes of sharing and selflessness among community.
The second performance of the assembly involved some of our Torres Strait Islander students who performed a mix of traditional dances. These students were joined by some of our special visitors which included family members of our Torres Strait Islander students who played the traditional thram and a makeshift warup during the performance. This was very special to see.
Afterwards, our school Yarning Circle was put to good use as a place to connect and yarn over a light lunch.
On Saturday 22 July we also continued our NAIDOC celebrations with St Brendan’s who joined us for a fun day of activities which included weaving, artefacts, art and traditional singing and dancing. The major highlight of this day was the traditional lunch dishes prepared by our chef Kent, boarding supervisor MJ and some of our parent visitors from the Torres Strait Islands. This was a great experience for all in attendance on the day.
Our Indigenous students also have a busy couple of weeks ahead with our Torres Strait Islander dance group booked in for many performances in the community. This week, we have attended two local primary schools to perform and run some fun NAIDOC activity sessions. Over the weekend, our dance group will also be performing at the Rockhampton RiverFest as invited by the local Darumbal Enterprises.
We look forward to a great weekend ahead sharing culture through dance.
Shania Conlon
Indigenous Liaison Officer