It’s been brisk out there. Certainly, it’s been noticeable at Kolbe this week, with the London plane trees bare, and wind sweeping across the campus.
Rather than focusing on the bare trees, I’ve been looking for splashes of purple around Rockingham. Often the purple is a Dockers poster, as the dreams of Flagmantle rekindle; but what I am looking for are the purples of the native iris or the Dianella revoluta. The purple flowers that start to bloom in the season of Makuru. Soon it will be my favourite season, Djilba, when the massive amounts of flowers in the South West will be easy to see.
The Noongar six seasons are a way to connect and feel in sync with the world around us. NAIDOC Week celebrations at Kolbe are a reminder that there are tens of thousands of years of knowledge from our First Nations community members. Knowledge that helps us see the subtle colours and changes in the seasons and connect more deeply with the boodja we are on.
There’s a richness to the landscape that I didn’t learn about during my schooling years, it is something we can now all learn about together. My own daughter has benefitted from this change in education when she explained that the four seasons of the Northern Hemisphere aren’t the only way of looking at the world. You can hear her about 28 minutes into an American podcast about seasons here. I’m so proud and humbled by the knowledge and confidence of the young people in Western Australia, they know much more about their country than I did at their age.
Staff, students, and families have heard stories of resilience and hope across the week in professional learning, Mass, class activities and sporting opportunities. A true celebration with messages of strength and vision which we are all invited to be a part of.