On 21 November 2024, Niki Davison and Dylan Collard, from Moodjar, expertly led a representative group of the 成人短片鈥檚 community in a workshop to name important spaces on the 成人短片鈥檚 campus.
The School has, in its Strategic Plan, four strategic focus areas. One of them, 鈥淩ounded Character: Our community is characterised by an aim to 鈥榞row good people鈥� who are ethical, respectful, honest, empathetic, confident, capable, and concerned citizens of the world鈥�, is very relevant to the School鈥檚 aim to establish a better understanding of and connection to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
Within this strategic focus area, we specifically seek to 鈥淲ork to understand, learn with, and serve others, including those of diverse identities, communities, and beliefs, and those experiencing hardship or disadvantage鈥�. The School has engaged with Moodjar Consultancy this year in three projects to help achieve this strategic objective, including the space-naming workshop.
The School campus has a number of important spaces that are used every day by our students and community. The School Council agreed to name these spaces with appropriate Noongar names that reflect the purpose of those spaces. The School engaged Moodjar to provide expert advice and support so that the process was a respectful one, ensuring that the richness of the knowledge and culture of Aboriginal people who have lived in this area for thousands of years were recognised and respected. Five spaces were examined: the Cafeteria, the Quadrangle, the green space in the Primary School between the Art Room and the Year 4/5 Building, the Primary Oval, and the Secondary Oval.
The 成人短片鈥檚 group included people representing Primary School students, Secondary School students, staff, parents, the P&F, the Old Scholars鈥� Association, the School Council and the School鈥檚 Executive.
The group was asked to brainstorm how each of those spaces is used by our community, and then the focus was narrowed to three of the major uses or purposes. At this point, it was clear that the spaces were used for quite different purposes. The group was then provided with a range of Noongar language resources, and we looked for words that corresponded to the purposes identified. Then, we looked at how some Noongar words could be combined to accurately describe that space's purpose. The group was greatly assisted by Dylan鈥檚 knowledge of the Noongar language, he is a Noongar language teacher, as we learned how to connect and correctly pronounce the words.
As a result, we have discerned five beautiful names for these important spaces. Professor Len Collard is reviewing the names for their suitability, and when approved, the names will go to the School Council for their consideration. We hope to be able to share the names with our community early next year.
I am looking forward to when these beautiful Noongar names are simply part of the lexicon of language at 成人短片鈥檚, when members of our community use the words as naturally as we say 鈥楯oondalup鈥�, or 鈥楰arrinyup鈥�, or 鈥榊ellagonga鈥�. Our students will be immersed in Aboriginal culture simply by being on our campus, and our connection to Aboriginal people will be strengthened.
Thank you to each of the people who engaged wholeheartedly and enthusiastically in the workshop for their contribution to an excellent outcome for 成人短片鈥檚.
