Every year, as part of the NAIDOC celebrations as a College we immerse ourselves into a cultural medley of various activities at school and on country. With the 2024 of “Keep the Fire Burning, Blak, Loud and Proud.” Our incredible cultural staff led the way with purpose, excitement and pride. This was an incredibly special celebration this year with our College being honoured as the LEAD organisation for 2024. We were delighted to be recognised as the Focus organisation given the College’s celebration of 50 years of Nulungu College in 2024.
As a we College celebrated the week with a few significant highlights;
Friday 21 June – NAIDOC Reconciliation Walk and Opening Ceremony.
St Mary’s students proudly joined the wider Broome community in the annual walk which marks the opening of the NAIDOC celebrations. It is always a very special way for our students to see our community coming together in such a positive and strong way celebrating culture.
Friday 21 June – NAIDOC Opening Ceremony
The opening ceremony occurred after the reconciliation walk on the grounds of Our Lady Queen of Peace Cathedral. Our students did us proud in their contributions to such a wonderful event. Our College Choir joined with primary school Choirs to launch their 2024 NAIDOC song, it was incredibly moving and meaningful. Then our Cultural Captain, Severo Corpus delivering an inspirational address on behalf of our College and Patron for the week.
Monday 24 June NAIDOC Liturgy and Morning Tea
As a Whole College community, along with families, members of the OLQP Parish and wider Broome community we gathered for a beautiful Liturgy to launch our NAIDOC week, followed by a morning tea. We celebrated the theme of keeping the fire burning with a smoking to make our liyarn strong for the week ahead and then a liturgy centred on `keeping the fire burning’ and being proud of who we are as a College and what we represent with our celebration and respect of culture and NAIDOC.
Tuesday 25 June – Broome Early Years Network Group
Our College hosted a community picnic at Our Mob Playgroup, this was a combined celebration by the various Early Years groups. This event and activities were enjoyed by all and a wonderful way for the smallest people in our community to celebrate being `Blak, Loud and Proud’ with their significant adults and community members.
Wednesday 26th June – University of Notre Dame Morning Tea
Our Year 6 students were fortunate to be invited to attend this event hosted by NDU Broome Campus. A scrumptious morning tea was provided whilst listening to some live music and stories from well-known Broome Musicians. Stephen Pigram took us through the history of NAIDOC celebrations in Broome since the early 1970’s. There was also a live art activity taking which we proudly contributed to. We are blessed that Notre Dame invited us to share in this community event.
Friday 28th June – Ngan-Ga lani Nagula Junggubarri
Our Student Representative group and some of our fabulous staff had a lovely day at the Ngan-Ga lani Nagula Junggubarri event at Crab Creek. It was a special time for our Our Mob Playgroup and student leaders to spend time fishing and connecting with Yawuru elders and families. We are grateful to Yawure for this wonderful NAIDOC event.
Saturday 29th June – Kullarri NAIDOC Awards Night
Such a wonderful night celebrating Blak, Loud and Proud and recognising outstanding contributions of `Keeping the Fire Burning’ within our wider community. College staff attended the event held at Goolarri Media, to support our nominees, our Patron and Kullari who did a fabulous job celebrating NAIDOC 2024. Congratulations to our four nominees, Margaret Bin Sali, Michelle Hamaguchi, Helen Howard and Sr Helena Brabender. Our Patron Erica Bernard did a wonderful job representing our College and supporting with MC duties on the night, such a wonderful role model and leader for us all.
Sunday 7 July – Missa Terra Spiritu Sancti.
In celebration of the NAIDOC 2024 theme, Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish Community came together to celebrate the Mass in a special Kimberley way. The Missa Terra Spiritus Sancti has recently been given official approval by the Bishops of Australia- another reason to celebrate and way to `Keep the Fire Burning’. We are blessed to have a parish community so dedicated to `Keeping the Fire Burning’.
Our students across our K-12 College had unbelievable learning experiences thanks to our amazing cultural staff who planned in collaboration with our entire team and we were so impressed and thankful. Students participated in cooking, fishing, excursions and bushwalks with Yawuru Rangers, drama and singing workshops with local leaders, art projects, face painting, language and culture lessons. It was action packed week of `Keeping the Fire Burning’ and our students and staff are stronger, more knowledgeable and committed to ensuring `Blak, Loud and Proud’ learning and message is alive and present, well beyond the celebrations of NAIDOC week.
