Cedar Creek State School Celebrates NAIDOC
With indigenous children representing 10% of their student population Cedar Creek State School holds NAIDOC week close to their heart. Since Indigenous Children’s Day was on 4th August, the school followed on with their NAIDOC week celebration on 5th Friday and a full day of events scheduled.
To begin the celebration, the ‘Welcome to our Country’ in the form of a story sharing ceremony was conducted by Rory O’Connor and Yagumbeh language speaker Shaun Davies whose enthusiastic and expressive storytelling was a joy to behold.
Formalities over, the kids buddied up to ensure maximum participation and set off for a day of indigenous inspired fun which included a rotation of ochre face painting and dancing, weaving, rock and sand painting, storytelling, and damper cooking.
A damper station was ably manned by Principal Mike Meier secretly hoping he remembered to put salt in each batch, though with a slurp of golden syrup to top it off I’m sure no one noticed if he forgot.
The kids lined up to have their faces painted with ochre and learn traditional animal dance moves from Kyara and Coen Hourigan, who also assist in running the schools’ weekly kids indigenous club.
You get the real feel of a goanna from Coen’s amazing dance moves, and everyone enjoyed participating in the performance. There were Indigi Games on the oval at break time and a rotation of further activities to keep both students and teachers busy till the days end.
By Sue Jobson (Reporter)