Published on: 3 August 2023













This week the School has been celebrating NAIDOC Week, recognising the significant contribution our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students make to the Christ Church community.

This morning, students in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program performed a traditional dance for attendees to the Senior School Assembly with Wudjuk Noongar man Barry Winmar performing a moving Welcome to Country. You can watch a video of the NAIDOC Week Assembly and traditional dance here.

Every year as part of NAIDOC Week we display the artwork they have done throughout the year. The Theme for NAIDOC Week 2023 is “For Our Elders!”. To mark this significant occasion, we wanted to have more First Nations’ artwork visible around the School. In collaboration with BlankWalls, old boy Irwin Lewis was invited to help create a mural for outside the Refectory.

The process started with the boys brainstorming ideas about how to link the mural to the area in which it would be situated. The idea was to create murals themed around bush tucker, hunting and different traditional food sources. The decision was made to design four different murals with a theme for each. The finished pieces represent saltwater, freshwater, waterholes and land, forming one body of work. Each boy was assigned a mural to work on and asked to paint an animal associated with the theme. Once the animals were painted, animal tracks and tools that might be used to hunt the animals were incorporated. Finally, each panel was painted a distinct colour with each flowing into the next ensuring that together, the murals are one body of work.

You can watch the boys explain the artwork and the meaning behind it here.