Members of the local community, students, staff and special guests came together in the school hall for a special NAIDOC ceremony, followed by a traditional smoking ceremony.

We embraced and celebrated many aspects of local Indigenous culture through dance, song, stories and poetry, all of which were built upon the theme, ‘Our Languages Matter’.

Students showed much excitement for the colouring competition and the ‘Deadly Door Award’, which was awarded to 3M. The class will proudly display the trophy in their classroom for the next twelve months.

Members from NSW National Parks and Wildlife rolled up their sleeves and cooked a delicious lunch for over 400 people during the day, following by a tasty NAIDOC cake.

 “Our students were engaged and embraced the celebrations of NAIDOC day. The commitment, enthusiasm and pride shown by our Indigenous students was remarkable, demonstrating what strong leaders they are”, said Principal, Chris Waters.

Special thanks goes to all those who dedicated their time and enthusiasm into the celebrations including, Jye Simon, Lara Went from Wukul Art and Matt Coombe from Amaroo Cruises who donated the prizes for the day; the elders who came and shared their knowledge and presence with us – Aunty Lyn, Aunty Lola and Aunty Janice.

Ron and Darren from NSW National Parks and Wildlife cooked lunch for over 400 people, along with their creative display of local native wildlife, which triggered many interesting conversations between the children.

Thank you also to Gary Bishop, Marcus Roswell and the GLC Forster Campus Koori Boys Group who kept the entire audience enthralled. Margie Donnelly who assisted with our Indigenous girls dance group; Vicki and Nicki Buckshiram who performed for us and Desmond Donnelly who concluded the ceremony by playing the didgeridoo.

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