2020 School Improvement Survey - Closes on Friday

Last week, our parents received an invitation to participate in Adventist Schools Australia’s Parent Survey. Every family was given a unique access code so that opinions will be 100% anonymous. Parents' views assist us to provide a more accurate, reliable, and equitable picture than is obtained using only staff and student measures. We would like to encourage you to participate in this survey, as the more data gathered, the more this will assist us in providing the best possible educational experiences for our students.

This is the last week that you will have an opportunity to contribute in this survey looking towards school improvement. Don't miss out! The survey will be ‘live’ through to close of business on Friday 23rd of October.

Uniform Shop 

Remembrance Day – Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this article contains images of deceased persons.

As Remembrance Day approaches on the 11^th November, this year, due to Covid-19, NAIDOC Week also falls within the same week.

Many people are aware of European Australians who have served their country in times of conflict, many of our community may also have relatives who have served or who are serving. Little awareness is made, however, of the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who have served their country in the past and who are also serving today. In the past, a lot of prejudice and hostility was projected towards the Indigenous peoples of Australia, so much so that these people suffered poor living conditions, low wages, limited access to education and limited voting rights.

Over the next few weeks, we shall look at some Indigenous Australians who served their country and deserve the same respect that others are given, to commemorate their sacrifice.

The Bible tells us of the need to regard all people in a respectful manner, regardless of gender, race or status, especially if serving together under a common purpose: “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28 NIV)

At the onset of World War 1 in 1914, Indigenous Australians were not allowed to enlist in the armed forces, although many wanted to. By 1917, Britain and her Allies were desperately requiring more troops and so, gradually, changes were made to existing Military Orders (established by British descended politicians!) to allow "Half-castes [to be] enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force provided that the examining Medical Officers are satisfied that one of the parents is of European origin.".

Once enlisted in the armed forces, Indigenous Australians were generally regarded as equals: receiving the same rate of pay and treated without prejudice.

One Indigenous Australian who enlisted to serve in World War 1 was Douglas Grant. The following is sourced from the Australian War Memorial website.

Douglas Grant was born into a traditional Aboriginal community in the Bullenden Kerr Ranges of Northern Queensland in the early 1880s. His early family life was torn apart in 1887 when his parents and much of his Aboriginal community were killed in what was believed to be a tribal fight. He was rescued just moments from death by scientist Robert Grant, a Scottish immigrant surveying in the area at the time. Naming him Douglas, he raised him as his son.

The Grant family settled in Lithgow, New South Wales. Douglas, along with Robert’s other son, Henry, attended Scots College in Sydney. There, he developed a love for Shakespeare and poetry, and his talent for drawing was encouraged. After finishing school, Douglas pursued his interest in drawing, training as a mechanical draughtsman.

When the First World War broke out Grant managed to enlist with the 34th Battalion in January 1916. However, as he was about to leave Australia the Aborigines Protection Board intervened, noting that regulations prevented Aboriginals from leaving the country without government approval. Undeterred, Grant enlisted again, and this time successfully embarked with the 13th Battalion in August.

However, his service was to be short-lived. On 11 April 1917, just two months after arriving in France, Grant was captured during the first battle of Bullecourt. In this battle at least 3,300 men were killed or wounded and a further 1,170 were taken prisoner.

Grant was a well-educated, articulate man with a thick Scottish accent. As such, he was a person of curiosity to German doctors, scientists, and anthropologists. To his comrades, however, he was cherished as a remarkable figure who proved to be both honest and quick-witted.

After his capture, Grant spent two months in France. However, owing to his dark complexion, he ended up at Wünsdorf (Zossen) prisoner-of-war camp in the German state of Brandenburg. Wünsdorf was a Halbmondlager (“half-moon camp”), a special type of “show camp” where the Germans kept French and British colonial troops, many of whom were Muslims, hoping to exploit their supposed indignation towards their colonial masters. While there, Grant supervised the distribution of comforts to Indian prisoners as a member of the British Help Committee.

After 22 months, Grant was repatriated to Australia, where he resumed his job as a draughtsman before moving on to work as a labourer in a paper factory and then a small-arms factory. He lobbied for Aboriginal rights and became active in returned servicemen’s affairs. Grant died in 1951, aged 65, and was buried in Botany Cemetery in Sydney.

6020 Pte Douglas Grant (second row, seated fourth from the left) returning to Australia with other soldiers on HMAT Medic in 1919.

Lest we forget.

Matt Mackay

HASS Coordinator

Bibliography:

Australian Government. Aboriginal service during the First World War in Australian War Memorial <<https://www.awm.gov.au/about/our-work/projects/indigenous-service>> (Retrieved from the World Wide Web, 20 October, 2020).

Part-Time School Bus Driver Required

Dyslexia Awareness Month

Parking Around The School

1. Parking out the front of the school- 
We are noticing a lot of parents parking in the front area of the school, walking to the single gate and dropping off, only to return to the car minutes later and reversing out into traffic. We understand the convenience but parking here and reversing out is stopping the flow of traffic from the drive through zone. We are asking that if you are walking your child onto our school grounds or collecting them in the afternoons, please use the back car park.

2. Keeping the car park entrance clear
As mentioned in a hand out, it is very important that you please do not park in the entrance to the back car park. If the drive through line is full, please wait with your left indicator flashing while on Nelson Road. When the line starts to move, then feel free to move into the drive through zone but please don't block the car park entrance.

3. Turning left only out of car parks and drive through
In peak times, when families wait and try to turn right onto Wright Road from the drive through, it again, slows the whole drive through down - often to a complete stop. We are asking kindly that you turn left only out the drive through onto Wright Road. 

4. Side gate reopened! 
We have cleared the temporary storage near the Front Office and are happy to open this walkway again to allow an alternative entrance, rather than going through the Front Office.

Please remember the current restrictions still in place (No adults entering classrooms unless you sign on in the Front Office).

We hope to continue to develop the parking around the school so it runs as smoothly as possible. 

Daily Health Check