Outreach - Far North Queensland Experience

Walking Beside/ Caring for Country

Reconciliation aims to promote understanding of the history of contact between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and develop better relations for the future.

Each year the Year 9 cohort, approximately 150 students engage in an Outreach experience to Far North Queensland. Year 9 was chosen for this experience for a number of reasons:

• It is a time of increasing awareness by these students of structural inequality in society.
• It is a time when they are trying to become more independent and the Outreach experience fosters this independence in a safe environment.
• It provides students with a community service experience, strongly supported by teachers, so that in Year 10 students can continue this experience in their own time.
• The physical environment of FNQ is largely classified World Heritage and allows students to appreciate the glory of Creation and to find a place of prayer and reflection.
• There is a large Indigenous population, both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who form a viable section of the workforce and as such provide specific role models for our students.

As a result of the 2 week experience students will have walked beside Indigenous Australians, acknowledged the past and accepted responsibility for the future.