The achievements of local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were celebrated at the Korreil Wonnai Aboriginal Education Consultative Group ‘Kullaburra’ award ceremony at Kurri High School last Wednesday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Korreil Wonnai AECG held the awards in conjunction with the Cessnock Community of Great Public Schools and the Kurri Kurri Learning Community.
The awards were named Kullaburra after the Awabakal word for ‘shining’, and were presented for attendance, sport, leadership, all-round excellence and completion of the HSC.
Forty-two students were recognised for attendance higher than 95 per cent (and of these, 32 had perfect attendance records).
Nine students received awards for sporting achievements while 15 were recognised for leadership.
Sixteen all-rounder awards were presented to students who displayed consistent effort across academic, sporting, artistic and cultural areas within the school and the wider community.
The 21 indigenous students who completed the HSC in 2013 at Cessnock, Kurri and Mount View High Schools were congratulated, as were the 27 who are in Year 12 this year.
The ceremony included performances by Kurri High School student Georgia Stuart (who sang the national anthem) the Cessnock Community of Great Public Schools choir, the Imi-Wonna-Roi dancers and the Mount View High School cultural dance group.
Stanford Merthyr Infants School teacher Shannon Ping, who was the master of ceremonies, said we are in a “golden age” for Aboriginal education.
“Never before have we had so many opportunities to display our culture,” he said.
See more photos from the day in our gallery below.
