2021 SEMESTER 2 NEWSLETTER
Junior HASS This year, students have been busy in Humanities and Social Sciences! In Term 4, students have been studying rights and freedoms within a democracy, including freedom of speech. Students have also been learning about empathy. The extension students created their own political party, deciding what issues are important to them and how they will fix those issues. After deciding on a name, logo and slogan for their political party, they designed a campaign poster and wrote an election speech, using persuasive devices learnt in English. They created some inspirational work – we absolutely have some future leaders here at Girl Academy! In Term 3, students studied a unit on sustainability and looked at different Indigenous perspectives of sustainability. They each wrote a letter to Country, or from Country, which was compiled to create a performance for NAIDOC day. The students spoke their truths on the microphone, whilst music by Gurrumul played in the background. The girls should be very proud of their words and finding the courage to speak in front of a large audience. The performance was POWERFUL! Enjoy a copy of the speech below:
connection to our ancestors past and present. Alexis: Laws, traditions, language. Lynese: I am everything. I am Country. Thaarah: I am running out of strength. You need to protect me. I am suffering. Ada: My trees are being cut. I am suffering. My ground is being drilled into and my waters are being poisoned. Edwina: People don’t see that Country has got life, and our next generation need that life and water to live and survive. Naydia: I ask you to stop, have wisdom, have empathy. Alexis: I NEED YOUR HELP. I ask you to stop destroying scared sites! Chaquita: I am the provider; I give you fresh air to breathe, treat me good but do not treat me as if I am a rubbish. Naydia: Destroying sacred sites, is tearing the native people’s cultural connection away from me!
DEDICATION TO COUNTRY Naydia: Dear Humans, All: Dear Humans!
Alexis: Centuries of stories, dances, language savagely being torn away! This is because of mining, mining for oil and coal!
Alexis: I am the land on which you walk, run and sit.
Chaquita: Digging my body up in large chunks getting oil and coal is affecting the vegetation around you which you need to live.
Naydia: I am the trees that help you breathe and which you lay under for shade.
Taishara: It is weakening land so the land you would play on is now all soft and weak.
Ada: I am the producer of life, the producer of resources and I am the reason you breathe every day.
Thaarah: Help me help you!
Edwina: I am the creation. I am the ceremonies.
Edwina: You can heal me. I ask that you start to speak up for your land and your Country.
Violet: I am the living things. I am Country! Calista: Country is inherent to our identity. Skye: It’s our lives in every way – spiritually, physically, emotionally, socially and culturally. Naydia: I am the ground that gives you stability. Taishara: Country is family, we’re a part of the land it speaks to us! Skye: It’s alive, its spirit breathes. And we all are naturally connected like we have a strong
Ada: The things you do on a daily basis are affecting me.
Chaquita: I ask that you start by listening to those who hear my cries. Naydia: Plant more trees as you take them down. Fertilise my body so I can keep producing. Only take bits of me. Ada: I ask you to stop deforestation. Deforestation is killing me. Deforestation affects me and animals! They’re dying because their habitat is being cut down and they have nowhere else to live if you
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