Celebrating and recognising National Reconciliation Week is part of our broader commitment to Reconciliation at Carey and was a wonderful opportunity for staff and students to learn, engage and reflect. The week started and ended with learning in classrooms about the 1967 Referendum and Mabo Day as two key events bookmarking Reconciliation week. We learnt more about First Nations musicians through a curated Spotify playlist created by Middle School Captain Amelia and accompanying biographies of the artists that were projected on the large screen. This music and presentation played at lunchtime in the J O Thomas Quad throughout the week with many students adding these artists to their own playlists.
On Tuesday, students from Middle and Senior School had the opportunity to engage with First Nations artists Carmal (Wiradjuri) and JEM (Tiwi) from Yarn and Learn to co-create a Reconciliation artwork. Carmal and JEM used the symbolism of the boomerang to engage students in conversations around the theme of ‘Returning Well’. The following is their statement about the completed works which are soon to be hung in the Middle School:
Returning Well is a collaborative and symbolic artwork created to honour the spirit of Reconciliation Week 2025. The stencilled boomerangs are a strong image representing journey, return and connection. It's a visual and cultural reminder that what we send out into the world returns to us. Let us choose to return well.
On Thursday we were lucky to have Braydon Saunders visit Carey to speak to Senior and Middle School students. Braydon is a proud Gunditjmara man from Heywood in south-west Victoria. He’s the founder of Black Swan Cultural Tours, where he shares the stories, landscapes and deep cultural knowledge of his people with schools, organisations and the wider public. Braydon’s reflection and stories focussed on truth-telling, resilience and the strength of continuing culture and inspired us all as allies to listen, learn and lead with heart.
On Friday we held the first ever whole-school casual clothes day to fundraise for Children’s Ground, a First Nations-led organisation working to improve health, education and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children by valuing First Nations knowledge and self-determination. This event was a huge success, and we are proud to have supported the work of Children’s Ground.
Our commitment to Reconciliation goes beyond one week and can be seen embedded in our curriculum, on Outdoor Education camps and through immersive programs. As we work towards developing our 2026 Reconciliation Action Plan we can reflect on how we are ‘bridging now to next’ at Carey.
Amanda Siva
Careers Practitioner and VET Co-ordinator
