Wednesday, 22 February 2023

 Vicki WARD (Eltham) (10:10): Congratulations to Greenhills Primary School in Greensborough, who marked the beginning of their school year with a welcome to country smoking ceremony. Greenhills is doing important work with Indigenous reconciliation, education and respect. This is the second time they have begun the year with a smoking ceremony, this year led by Uncle Ringo, who was fantastic in engaging the students. Emma Thom, Sophie Mills, Grace Prat, Oakley Vipond, Broady D’Allmico and Ashton Croaker are terrific school leaders who helped with the ceremony. I also want to acknowledge the wonderful singing of the school choir with their song Wominjeka.

I also saw the students’ new house T-shirts, which were a collaboration between Greenhills students and Indigenous artist Emma Bamblett. Emma is a proud Aboriginal woman with connections to the Wemba Wemba, Gunditjmara, Ngadjonji and Taungurung peoples. Working with students from the 2022 Indigenous action team, Emma discussed her passion for her culture and sketched as the students brainstormed what connection to community and country means to them. The end result is dynamic new designs for Greenhills house T-shirts, which students wear on days when they have sport classes. The design features four animals: bunjil, eagle; waa, crow; buliyong, bat; and bulen-bulen, lyrebird. These are the names of the four house teams at the school. A big congratulations to the students in the 2022 Indigenous action team, artist Emma Bamblett, principal James Penson and assistant principal Janine Hough for their fantastic collaboration on this project.