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Recognising our First Nations Peoples
LORETO NORMANHURST CELEBRATES THE HISTORY, CULTURE AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLES – THE FIRST AUSTRALIANS AND THE OLDEST SURVIVING CULTURE IN THE WORLD. TWO OF OUR STUDENTS SHARE THEIR REFLECTIONS ON THEIR OWN CULTURAL AWARENESS.
Iam a Wiradjuri woman of the Barkinji tribe of Bourke, NSW. In August each year, the whole Year 9 cohort at Loreto Normanhurst travels to Far North Queensland for two weeks, to experience the tribes and cultures in the Yarrabah area. I found the experience provided me with insight into the different environments, traditions and cultures of Indigenous Australian communities. I was able to talk to elders, walk on sacred sites, see Aboriginal artworks and learn how to use handmade traditional spears.
The experience was very eye-opening and we gained so much knowledge about Aboriginal Peoples and the culture that makes Australia so unique. I feel very fortunate that I was given the opportunity to experience this learning of culture in an enjoyable and ‘hands on’ way.
Loreto Normanhurst also implemented our Reconciliation Action Plan this year, the school’s formal commitment to reconciliation and as a school, we participate in Close the Gap Day and Harmony Day, recognising these days as one of respect and appreciation for the diversities in Australia and to commemorate Aboriginal culture. As an Indigenous student at Loreto Normanhurst, this is very personal and important to me. I have learnt many new things about the history and statistics of my people and feel that every student should be given this same opportunity, as this is one way that it can keep our spirituality alive.
CLARE STEVENSON Year 9
I am a proud Wiradjuri woman; my ancestors were the first inhabitants of the Forbes district over 40,000 years ago. Myeducation at Loreto is invaluable; and it has shaped the person I have become. Through my education, my knowledge of my own culture as well as the importance of reconciliation between Australia’s first people and wider Australia, has been enhanced.
Within my HSC body of work, titled, 'Our Past, Her Future' (pictured left), the inextricable connection between the past, present and future which is fundamental to Aboriginal culture is explored; whilst also providing insight into responsibilities of Aboriginal Peoples in terms of communal relationships, as well as the fundamental connection that Aboriginal Peoples share with the land as it is inherently connected to all aspects of being.
LUA PELLEGRINI Class of 2019
Mary Ward Pilgrimage
JOIN MRS LIBBY PARKER, DIRECTOR OF MISSION, ON A JOURNEY TRACING MARY WARD’S FOOTSTEPS – A TRANSFORMATIONAL EXPERIENCE THAT ALLOWED HER TO EXPLORE THE DEEPEST PART OF HER SOUL AND EXAMINE WHO SHE HAD BECOME AND WHY.
Do you ever take the time away from your busy life to reflect and take stock of who you are, what matters to you, and what gives meaning and purpose to your life? I had the privilege this year to do just that by participating in the Mary Ward Pilgrimage to Europe with my colleagues from Loreto Normanhurst, Sr Libby Rogerson IBVM, and Ms Kerry McCullough, Spirituality and Liturgy Coordinator, along with colleagues and leaders from the seven Loreto schools around Australia.
I grew up in Gundagai, a small country town in rural NSW, and I was blessed to have the freedom and space a country lifestyle provided and a big, close Catholic family to go with it. It wasn’t until last year, however, as I approached my 50th birthday, that I travelled to Europe for the first time with my husband. It’s quite ironic that I have spent my life teaching about religion, religious history and spirituality, all based on the lives and teachings of others, without experiencing any of the places these significant people had walked and journeyed.
My life has had many blessings and experiences, none more important to me than having children, educating them and working hard to provide the best I can for my family. My work has always been incredibly important to me and I know that working with teenage girls and stretching them to be the best they can be by developing a deep relationship with God, is what makes me happy and is where I find much joy and a life-giving energy. However, until the Mary Ward Pilgrimage, I had never experienced such a deep transformational experience that allowed me to explore the deepest part of my soul and examine who I had become and why.
Our pilgrimage began in England, in the countryside surrounding York, where Mary Ward was born and lived before answering the call of her deepest desire to become a Sister. We traced her footsteps and crossed the English Channel to St Omer and Liege where she began her own order of Sisters, building schools and adopting St Ignatius’ rule of living outside the walls of a convent; a revolutionary path for a woman at the time. We then travelled on to Munich, where after the success of Mary Ward’s schools and the establishment of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, she ended up arrested and a Papal Bull of Suppression was placed on her beloved order of Sisters and her schools were closed.
There were many moments, places and stories that touched me, but none more so than my experience at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Grace. Before we left the pilgrimage, each pilgrim was given a small wooden heart to place somewhere along the pilgrim route that had touched us personally. I would now like to share my reflection of this special place with you.
“As I make my slow pilgrimage through the world a beautiful sense of slow mystery seems to gather and grow.”– Arthur Christopher Benson
A great amount of trust is required of a pilgrim when they allow themselves to step over the threshold and through the doors of the unknown to experience another way of being. It is a trust in themselves, to be open to the possibilities that may await them; a trust in others and the pilgrims they share the journey with; and a trust in their God, who alone knows what is truly desired for them. I certainly had this sense as I stepped into the world of Mary Ward and her companions, into a life and time that was known only academically to me; I had not lived, experienced nor was fully aware of the depth and significance of her life.
Whilst the context of Mary Ward’s life was certainly set in the city of York around the Bar Convent, although this did not exist during her lifetime, my greatest insight came
