Mary Porter has opened the Giralang Primary School's Indigenous art exhibition as part of NAIDOC Week celebrations.
NAIDOC Week has been established as one of the main ways in which we celebrate and acknowledge the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and the role our schools play in this role is critical to that celebration.
Wiradjuri man and local artist Duncan Smith has been working with Giralang students preparing them for NAIDOC Week through a series of workshops.
Duncan told children stories which highlighted the importance animals have in Indigenous cultures, while in their classroom activities they investigated how Indigenous people incorporate a strong presence of animals in their dreaming stories and artwork.
At the launch Mary Porter said, "It's fantastic the way our schools have included activities to acknowledge these events in their curriculum plans and wonderful to see how schools such as Giralang Primary have included Indigenous content into their teaching and incorporated it in the school environment.
"I am also pleased to see how enthusiastically the children have embraced it.
"In 2008, Canberra will host the national celebrations for NAIDOC Week and this is most fitting given the momentous events that took place in our Federal Parliament with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's apology to the Stolen Generations," Mary commented.
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