Reconciliation Week

Today we stopped to commemorate a very important chapter in the history of Australia. This year's theme asked us to look at our history from the time man first stepped onto Australian soil over 50,000 years ago, the multitude of stories that make up that time and how we can look into the future.

In the acknowledgement of country the students were given a lesson in the meaning of what country meant to the original inhabitants of our area, the Wodjok people, and how they welcomed visitors.

“When we talk about traditional ‘Country’…we mean something beyond the dictionary definition of the word. For Aboriginal Australians…we might mean homeland, or tribal or clan area and we might mean more than just a place on the map. For us, Country is a word for all the values, places, resources, stories and cultural obligations associated with that area and its features. It describes the entirety of our ancestral domains.”

I could not help but realise that much of this description is similar to how I feel about my home. The huge difference, of course, is that the Wodjok people's home was a much larger area and the soil, the earth gave them everything they needed for survival. They were aware of and really 'knew' every square centimeter of the land on which they lived. We are only now starting to realise the immense wealth of knowledge and culture that has developed over the thousands of years of habitation before the rest of us immigrated to this amazing land that we all share.

Creator of all things,
Both seen and unseen. 


Speak to us in your great wisdom. 


Make us strong as we seek 


Your help and guidance. 


Teach us to love all people 


Regardless of race or colour or belief.
May we listen with great care 


To the heartbeat of this land 


And to its people 


Who cared for it so well 


And for so long.
May the peace these people and their land 


Have always enjoyed 


Continue to be strengthened and preserved 


By all who wish to come and be part of 


This country and its ‘Ancient Dreaming’.