Gallery: NAIDOC Week festivities at Dakabin State School

Students at Dakabin State School are celebrating NAIDOC Week by doing lots of fun things in the classroom, including making their own Indigenous paintings, reading books and playing games.

With many students identifying as Indigenous, Principal Michael Drake says it’s important to teach them, and the wider school community, about their culture.

“Nearly 10 per cent of our student population are Indigenous, so we really wanted to make sure we celebrate NAIDOC Week the best we can because it is important these kids learn more about their culture,” Michael says.

“It’s a big celebration across the entire school.

“We are doing art classes at lunch time, and we also had a NAIDOC Week colouring in competition, which was a big hit. We had a lot of kids participate in that, and we have displayed all the pictures in our administration foyer.

“Our staff are also reading Indigenous stories and participating in lots of fun activities like playing traditional Indigenous games with their students.”

Prep students learnt to play a game called Chiba, which is like dodgeball. The game is a mock warfare between two groups, using sponge balls as weapons in an attempt to contact the opposing player. The sponge balls represent spears and boomerangs.

The kids have also had the opportunity to taste and grow their own bush tucker.

“In the tuckshop we have traditional bush tucker, and we have also made a bush tucker garden so we can grow our own Indigenous plants,” Michael says.

“We are really excited about the bush tucker garden because this is the first time we have done it.”

Michael says the school also plans to build on Indigenous learning in all classrooms now and into the future.

“NAIDOC Week is a big celebration, but we are also conscious that it shouldn’t just be one week of the year,” he says.

“We want to use this as a catalyst to support the Indigenous kids at our school.”

Traditional Owner and Cultural Educator Aunty Christine also visited Dakabin State School during their NAIDOC Week celebrations to talk to the Indigenous students about the culture, language and history of the Gubbi Gubbi people.

"It's fantastic to see the students engaging and learning about our local Gubbi Gubbi culture, language and history," Aunty Christine says.

"The students enjoyed learning about the many items on display during my workshop including ochre, spears, shields, dilly bags and coolamon."

See the gallery below.

More information about NAIDOC Week

This year, NAIDOC Week was held from July 3-10, but with the school holidays, schools are celebrating this week.

NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee.

For more information, visit https://www.naidoc.org.au/