Kicking off the special day was the EPS, with all pupils braving the plummeting winter temperatures in the school grounds to watch the dance troupe perform a variety of dances including mosquito, fishing, berry picking and stingrays dances.

The Koori Dance Troupe consists of approximately 35 pupils from EPS and Pambula Public School with Koori heritage, with pupils of all ages upwards of grade 2 represented.

EPS  teacher Jenny Edwards said NAIDOC day was one of the most important events in the year for the kids to share their dancing with peers.

“NAIDOC is about recognition of the local Koori community and its culture and spirituality and everything that NAIDOC means,” Ms Edwards said.

“Doing this performance is very important to our kids as part of the local Aboriginal community, showing and sharing culture, and developing respect not only for themselves but our local elders.”

Ms Edwards said doing the public performance was “good for confidence building”, and acknowledged the huge input by Yuin man Uncle Warren Foster as the group’s main mentor, facilitator and backup musician.

“I enjoy teaching the kids, and it’s part of the reward seeing them perform, seeing them proud, and killing the shame,” Mr Foster said.

“No more shame; we need to be proud of who we are and where we come from. It’s the kids that keep me going.”

NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee, and is celebrated in July every year in recognition of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Straight cultures. 

The 2016 theme is “Songlines: The Living Narrative of our Nation” and this theme was a huge focus of the special NAIDOC assembly at the Eden Marine High School that followed at midday.

“Songlines are intricate maps of land, sea and country,” EMHS acting principal Leesa Wungluck said to a packed school hall.

“Songlines on earth are mirrored by sky songlines” Ms Wungluck continued, saying they enabled indigenous peoples to navigate vast distance through an intimate ancestral knowledge of nature, essentially “singing the land into life”.

EMHS Aboriginal Liaison officer Meaghan Holt acknowledged the high school’s “committment to education of Aboriginal students”, and also thanked the Eden elders, ELALC, Twofold Aboriginal Corporation, staff and parents for their support, flexibility, and “keeping the fire in my belly alive and catching my tears”.

“You inspire me and I in turn hope it inspires you to create pride in our people,” Ms Holt concluded.

ELALC CEO BJ Cruse offered a Welcome to Country while Pastor Ossie Cruse played the gumleaf and commented on the high achievements of the high school, followed by a screening of the hip hop song “People of the Mountains of the Sea” starring many EMHS students and Pastor Cruse himself.

Then the stage was set for a return of the Koori Dance Troupe, with each of their songs applauded loudly by the staff and students.

“I’m very proud of my daughter for dancing like this,” commented John Williams, whose daughter Ashanti is an EPS pupil and member of the troupe.

“NAIDOC is for all of us to access and embrace Aboriginal culture, and for all of us to be equal.”