Brookvale Public School

On the 10th of September Mr. Taylor, Matangi, Christian, Debbie and myself went to the Brookvale Land Agreement Ceremony, where our local council agreed to share the land with the aborigines. The land is 10 hectares of bush land behind our school.

We went at 9.30am. We went by car even though it was only up the street. When we got there we had a sticky croissants and fizzy juice.

After that delicious snack Steve an Aboriginal sang a song especially for this ceremony, the song was called Mother Earth (she joins us).

The Mayor, Councilor Sam Danellie and Jenny Munro, from the aboriginal community both made a speech about how we could all work together. Ms Munro is the chairperson of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council. Betty Ratcliffe from the  Brookvale Valley Community Group also spoke.

Then there was the signing of the agreement. Those who signed the agreement were Cr. Sam Danielle, Mayor of Warringah Shire, Jenny Munro Chairperson, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, and Gordon Hammond, Chairman of the Brookvale Valley Community Group.

Warringah Council plans to restore the 10 hectare bush land site. They will remove all the weed plants, rubbish and feral animals and put in a bush walking track. There is a beautiful waterfall, remnants of rain forest and sites of aboriginal importance.

Many local residents and school children were at the historic land agreement signing.

On Monday, December 8th, Mr. Taylor took Ana and I to the Aboriginal Reconciliation Forum at Warringah Council Chambers.

When we got there, the Mayor, Cr. Sam Danellie was doing his Welcome and introducing the speakers.

The next speaker was Linda Burney who was the representative for the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, who talked to us about Reconciliation.

The next speaker was Carolyn Pattison from the Peninsula Reconciliation Project. She talked to us about how the project is going and what it will do for everyone. It was very interesting.

Joan Tarry from the Manly, Warringah, Pittwater Aboriginal Support Group talked to us about how the Aboriginals wanted land and about the WIK Native Title Bill.

The last speaker was Pauline Mcleod, who was a storyteller. The first story she told was about her life. Part of it told us about Aboriginal children were taken away from their parents. However
she was, she was old enough to go and see her family again. The second story she told was about the kangaroo and how it got it's pouch. The kangaroo, in the beginning, had no pouch. One day, a
mother kangaroo and her joey were hopping along when they bumped into an old wombat. The little joey then ran off while the mother kangaroo looked after the wombat. In the end the kangaroo had been so kind to the wombat that the wombat (who was in fact a god) gave her and the joey and every marsupial a pouch.

We left at 8:30. We had a good time and it was very interesting. My favourite part was the two stories told by Pauline Mcleod