06 June 2025
National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. At its heart, reconciliation is about strengthening relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people, for the benefit of all Australians.
One way for us to learn about reconciliation is through reading books. There has been a wonderful display of books in our library which our classes have been reading and connecting with in class. Our Year 4 classes read Come Together by Isaiah Firebrace and My Culture and Me by Greg Dreise. We were asked to imagine if we were creating a book to share the messages and themes of Reconciliation Week, what would the front cover look like? We got to work creating our own covers. It needed to be symbolic and meaningful. Many of us drew upon the symbols that Uncle Cedric taught us on Year 4 camp.
I drew both flags to show their importance to country. The Aboriginal flag has outlines over it for the track that links to Torres Strait Island, showing their connection. At the bottom the drawing with the brown marker represents symbols of importance to culture. First, the three little circles represent fruits like the berries we tried on Year 4 camp. The one on the bottom left corner with many curves over each other is a tent, shelter for people to sleep in. Then there are the emu tracks, which represent ancestral journeys and shows their connection to land. The footprints show a person travelling through country. The last one with circle over circle is their sacred camp site. The ‘u’ shaped symbol are people sitting together, sharing dreamtime stories showing the importance of reconciliation.
Louis and Andy
Year 4J Students
