Feast of the Sacred Heart: Collection for ASRC

As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart as a school on Thursday 6th June, all members of the community are invited to bring in some donations for the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre from the attached list. These items will be warmly received by those seeking safety on our shores.

National Reconciliation Week

In the coming days, our national community turns its attention to considering where we have come from, and where we are going to as a society. On 26 May we acknowledge National Sorry Day. This day is held to mark the anniversary of the 1997 “Bringing Them Home” report, which detailed the long and painful history of the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. On Sorry Day, we pay our respects to Stolen Generations survivors, to their families, to their descendents, and to their communities. We do so in the knowledge that there is nothing to fear or to lose in the recognition of historical truth, and with the understanding that the pain of the past lives on in our present.

Following this day, National Reconciliation Week begins on 27 May, which is the anniversary of the successful 1967 referendum. At this referendum 54 years ago, an overwhelming majority of Australians voted to remove clauses in the Australian Constitution that discriminated against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Thousands of people worked on the “Yes” campaign for this referendum, and it remains one of the most successful national campaigns in Australia’s history.

National Reconciliation Week comes to an end on the 3 June, which is affectionately known as “Mabo Day”. This date commemorates the historic 1992 High Court decision in the Mabo case, which led to the recognition of native title and land rights for First Nations Australians.

The efforts of Eddie Koiki Mabo and his team of supporters led to the legal fiction of terra nullius being removed from our legal code. Prior to 1992, the historial lie that the continent of Australia had been uninhabited prior to invasion had persisted in the fabric of our legal system. The fact that this legal fiction had persisted from the time of invasion up until the 1990s is a reminder of why we still need prophetic voices like those of Eddie Mabo.

National Reconciliation Week is a special time in our national calendar when we focus on exploring how we can all contribute to strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians. Over the coming days of commemorations and celebrations, we invite each of you to engage in conversations with your friends, family and community about the special importance of National Reconciliation Week.