Our Year 5 and 6 student and teachers were privileged to have a guest speaker today. Mrs Thomas, our very own Contact Teacher for Aboriginal Education at St John Vianney’s, shared her insights into culture, connectedness and kinship. Mrs Thomas is a Gundungurrah and Durrawal woman who only found out she had Aboriginal heritage when she was 8 years old. This was due to the shame of the Stolen Generation and the conversations surrounding this. Her shared story wove beautifully into their current inquiry unit on Identity. Mrs Thomas shared her special artworks and Aboriginal Totem that are significant her Aboriginal Culture. In the Aboriginal Culture, you are given a totem, Mrs Thomas’ totem is a magpie. She shared a story, that she has never been swooped by a Magpie and in fact she warbles away to them and they in fact gather, sing and warble back. They discussed that identity is not just about your skin, hair or eye colour. The students left with many provocations and thinking more deeply about who they are and what they represent. We thank Mrs Thomas for her open and honest presentation and they are very much looking forward to creating their own identity artworks.