It’s the great debate we have every year – should we be celebrating our great country on the day that began the destruction of our First Nations cultures? Is a day of mourning really the right day for this celebration? Communities are still living with ongoing trauma resulting from invasion – from massacres, strategic attempts at genocide, abuse and bias.

This year the Wingaru team have worked with two amazing Aboriginal artists – Dunghutti artist Aunty Cynthia O’Brien-Younie, and Marlee Webb, an emerging Darug artist – to bring you some new Christmas crafts for you to share with your class.

I get emails from teachers at all times of the day and night – all year round. Which is why I am not at all surprised that despite the fact term 4 of 2021 is not over, teachers are already reaching out to get ready for 2022.

I can’t believe how fast this year has gone! I feel like I blinked and now we are getting ready to roll out the Christmas activities! As well as classrooms full of Christmas crafts (we have some deadly ones coming so keep an eye out!) the end of term 4 is a time that many families like to give their classroom teacher a small gift.

Last week I sat down for a yarn with the host of WinewithTeacher podcast, Ceri. It was a follow-up to the article about Wingaru and our philosophy that was included in issue 10 of Wine with Teacher magazine which focuses on elevating Aboriginal voices in the education space.

I can’t believe we’re in Week 10 of Term 3 already and at the end of our Heal Country Challenge. I’ll be honest in saying that this term certainly didn’t pan out the way I had planned it when I put my Challenge Planner together over the holiday break back in July.

I am sure I am not the only parent to mutter obscenities about remote learning this week. It is life and we need to get on with it, but there is no point in mincing words.

Lockdown in Sydney is certainly not the NAIDOC week I had planned but I am loving the celebrations of community and culture that I am seeing online and in the media. I hope you are getting to participate in some great events!

NAIDOC is just around the corner and for many Aboriginal people, myself included, it’s a favourite time of year. It’s a time when Aboriginal culture takes a front seat, when we get to see our culture and our people front and centre.

Cook’s declaration of ‘terra nullius’, as he stepped ashore on to Gadigal land in 1770, was a lie so steeped in injustice and corruption that it still weeps like a festering sore today. A bastardised catch-all employed with the pomp and vitriol of colonial endeavour, his words were a convenience, removing questions of authority, of ownership, of power.

With Sorry Day coming up, this time of year is a time when we see people starting to reflect on the past treatment of Aboriginal people and the impact of removal policies that created the Stolen Generations. People come together to offer acknowledgement and support to Aboriginal communities who live with the ongoing trauma of the past.

We believe that there is still so much more room for improvement for the technology sector to enhance its understanding and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as consumers, influencers and allies of their respective products and services.

I know I say this every year – but I love this year’s NAIDOC theme!

When I was in my first year of Uni I found myself in a conversation about Aboriginal people and all the things wrong with them. It was a conversation fuelled by misconceptions and stereotypes perpetuated by mainstream media. I wondered if anyone present had actually ever met an Aboriginal person.

The end of term 1 of course means Easter and the chocolate eggs and craft that come with it! While Easter is not an Aboriginal celebration, eggs were a big part of customary life and looking at how Aboriginal people used eggs is a great perspective for all age groups.

Aboriginal education is an area of teaching that can have an incredible impact on the world we live in. I was thrilled when I saw that the NSW Government had introduced priority areas of teacher PD that included Aboriginal education.