Launch of Girri Girri Sports Academy

The Girri Girri Sports Academy for Indigenous Students was officially launched on Monday 18 June 2007.

Reflecting the dispersed nature of Girri Girri Sports Academy, the official launch was facilitated via a video link-up of individual sites in the towns of Bourke, Orange and Bathurst.

Academy Member, Natalie Fuller, started proceedings by addressing all participants with a Welcome to Country.

Ms Pam Ryan, School Education Director, Orange, spoke about the Academy. Pam Ryan Pam emphasized the crucial importance of the support provided by the Federal Department of Education, Science and Training, together with that of the State Department of Education and Training Western NSW, to the success of the Girri Girri initiative.

The Girri Girri Sports Academy Logo and Motto were launched by Alecia Wright and Joash Mann from Bourke High School.

I am Alecia and I am in Year 10 at Bourke High School and a Member of Girri Girri Sports Academy and Advisory Group. So what does Girri Girri mean and how did we get our name? Students from Denison College (Kelso High Campus) selected Girri Girri which means in Wiradjuri ‘happy, glad’. And, at our camp at Lake Burrendong, Lisa told us the story about the Kelso High students and she asked us if we were all happy with the name. Of course, we all said ‘Yes’.

Lisa then discussed with us how we would like to see Girri Girri represented. Our Academy members come from many tribes. So the question was how could we collectively represent Girri Girri? We all sat down with paint and paper and started to design a logo. The final logo designed by Fred Vincent from Bourke High was the logo chosen for our Academy. It represents our many tribes and it shows how we are open to all new members.

My name is Joash and I am also a student in Year 10 at Bourke High. I am also an Advisory Group member. So, after we had a logo we needed to think about a motto. Doreen asked us to think about words to describe us. We had ‘Kooris with attitude’ and ‘deadly’. But we voted on three words that we think represents us. So today I am proud to announce the Girri Girri sports Academy motto Strong Proud Active. All we need now is a sponsor to provide us with t-shirts so that we can display our logo and motto. Anyone here today – all offers welcomed!

Sandon O’Neill-Gibbs and Natasha Fuller, Academy Members from Canobolas Rural Technology High School, launched the Girri Girri Sports Academy Website.

I am Sandon O’Neill Gibbs and I’m currently in Year 10. Today I am Strong, Proud and Active. Natasha and I will present to you our newly constructed web site. Firstly, a bit about our web page, it was designed using our logo and motto. So, why do we have a web page? It is so we can write to each other and add comments on the secured members’ page. It is also so that we know what we are planning to do in the Academy. It will also have all the important dates which we can tell our families about – vocational training, camps and skills clinics. The web page will let other people know about our great Academy. Now over to Natasha.

I am also a Year 10 student and like Sandon I represent students on the Girri Girri Sports Academy Advisory Group. About our Web page. We will be the main contributors to our web space. Today you will see the start of something big! This tells us about who we are. This is our members section which lets us have some fun writing a blog – which Doreen tells us will be good for our LITERACY!!! Jenny has loaded up some photos from camp – photos taken by so many Academy Members – too many students to name! The Members area of our web page gives us the chance to write blogs to each other, to our two Nathans, to Lisa or Doreen. I am Strong, Proud, Active and will be definitely blogging on real soon. Please share our web site with friends and family.

Laughs from the audience were drawn by Denise Taylor when she told ‘A Story About Us!’ Denise is an Academy Member from Denison College of Secondary Education Bathurst High Campus.

Today I would like to share with you a story about us. A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity for our six sites to get together for the very first time. We met at Lake Burrendong. We were all very nervous as we threw our gear into our cabins and started to meet other Academy Members.

When we were all together we realised that we had two Nathans – that was going to be tricky. So we started to say ‘My Nathan’. The question, ‘Do you know where my Nathan is?’ was often heard at the camp.

What did we do? We participated in leadership activities to develop team work, practised archery, and threw some great boomerangs. We had a camp fire and made some yummy Johnny cakes with lots of Maple Syrup. We watched State of Origin and had lots of nibblies prepared by Academy Members – carrot and celery sticks, rice crackers and dips.

We are looking forward to our next camp when we will have NSW Rugby League and NSW Netball present and running sessions. It is going to be fun.

We are really enjoying being part of Girri Girri sports Academy.

The official proceedings were concluded by Ms Doreen Conroy, Doreen Conroy Executive Officer, Girri Girri Sports Academy for Indigenous Students. Those participants lucky enough to be present at the Orange site of the video link-up, were invited to enjoy light refreshments.