What is Reconciliation?

 “Reconciliation involves building mutually respectful relationships between Indigenous and other Australians that allow us to work together to solve problems and generate success that is in everyone's best interests.” Reconciliation Australia

Garma Festival

In August 2009 twelve MGGS students and two staff members took part in an eight day Indigenous Cultural Exchange which included visiting the Yirrkala Community Education Centre and attending the Garma Festival in North East Arnhem Land.

Yirrkala is a bi-ligual school that teaches in the Yolngu language and English. The Yirrkala and MGGS students created a number of collaborative artworks during their class activities together. After Yirrkala our students attended the Garma Festival, a cultural event that seeks to promote cross cultural learning. This year the Festival theme was ‘Creative Industries’ and both contemporary (hip hop and film) and traditional (visual art, song and dance) Indigenous culture was celebrated. The girls learnt about the struggles faced by the local community, participated in Indigenous ceremonies and had a great time.

View our Garma Image Library

Indigenous Student Scholarship 2010

Melbourne Girls Grammar (MGGS) is pleased to announce the continuation of its Indigenous Student Scholarship program. In 2010 MGGS will provide a program to encourage and enable Indigenous students from regional Victoria and southern New South Wales to study at MGGS.

One scholarship comprising full tuition and boarding fees is being offered to an Indigenous girl entering Year 9 as a boarder. MGGS is now calling for applications to be submitted by Wednesday 25 November 2009. Download Indigenous Scholarship Application (pdf, 50kb)

Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP)

On Monday 27 April 2009 MGGS held a whole School Assembly to launch our inaugural RAP as part of Reconciliation Week. This event represented our commitment to an Australia in which Indigenous children enjoy the same access and outcomes as their peers. We intend to follow up with students over the coming weeks, and explore the scope of our commitment to Reconciliation in this Plan. We hope that all parents will read our RAP and that discussion at home increases your daughter’s understanding of why Reconciliation is an important national movement, and a movement that we seek to lead on through our educational, leadership and cross cultural programs.
Download our RAP (pdf, 153kb)
Download details of our Reconciliation activities for 2008 – 2009 (pdf, 40kb)

Reconciliation Area Action Day

MGGS was proud to host an event bringing together School teams to develop a shared commitment to Reconciliation. The day was attended by educational delegates from across Australia with guests traveling from Queensland, NSW and Tasmania. The main focus for the day was the sharing of understanding, respect for and inclusion of Aboriginal Australia in every sense, including perspectives in the classroom. This message was introduced by Mrs Catherine Misson upon opening the event which was then followed by an engaging and emotive Welcome to Country by Senior Wurundjeri elder, Aunty Joy Murphy.

The program for the day outlined a strong focus on leadership, engaging and supporting classroom teachers, and strategic planning. The speakers and workshops included best practice examples from Government and Non-Government Schools, representatives from the local and wider Aboriginal Community and presentations by partnerships groups, Reconciliation Australia (RA) and Dare to Lead (DTL).

Melbourne Girls Grammar staff and students presented on our reconciliation program which has gained attention through our completion of the Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) as one of eight ‘trailblazer’ schools nationally.  Our presentation highlighted aspects of this program and included the Indigenous Cultural Exchange (Garma), an overview of the Indigenous Scholarship Program, and individual perspectives by students.

Throughout the day the sharing of resources and support across the education sector was delivered through guest speakers and workshops. With this message of sharing, understanding and respect, the day was a success in delivering an appreciation of what is being done and what can be achieved for indigenous perspectives in education.