Suva Schools Participate in Week of Activities to celebrate Indigenous Australians

7 July 2010

Students from sixteen primary schools in the Suva area are participating in a week of activities to mark the Australian National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) celebrations.

NAIDOC Week celebrations are held across Australia each July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is an opportunity to recognise the contributions of Indigenous Australians to Australian society across various fields.

In Suva, the Australian High Commission has mounted an information display for primary schools, including on the history of Australia’s Indigenous peoples, their art and culture, and their stories which have been passed down from one generation to another.

In addition, the High Commission has teamed up with the Australian organisation, Red Dust Role Models, to have four Aboriginal performers inter-act with the students through story-telling, dot-painting and didgeridoo-playing sessions.

Red Dust Role Models is an Australian organisation which uses the profile and influence of positive Australian role models, including Indigenous athlete Cathy Freeman, to deliver health messages and inspire healthy lifestyle decisions among youth living in Australia’s remote Indigenous communities.

Red Dust Role Models has also brought in two Australian basketball professionals who are conducting workshops with Fiji’s Under 20 Basketball team and with other local primary and secondary schools.

The organisation has also undertaken workshops with schools in Vunidawa, Lami and Tacirua, to promote healthy living among students in the area. The Red Dust Role Models will also be conducting special workshops for children at the Gospel School for the Deaf.

Teachers from the participating Suva schools have welcomed the NAIDOC Week celebrations, saying information on display complements the teaching of Australian studies at the upper levels of primary school.

The Acting Australian High Commissioner, Ms Sarah Roberts has welcomed the response from schools.

“We’re pleased that by the end of the week close to 1500 students from the Suva area will have had the opportunity to learn more about the history of Australia’s Indigenous people,” Ms Roberts said.

“We’re also very pleased that through Red Dust Role Models’ Aboriginal performers, students can observe, first-hand, aspects of Indigenous culture. They can put a human face to all the information they have gained from the exhibition,” she said.