Today the Our Lady of the Assumption Parish Primary School (OLA), held the first ever OLA Little Long Walk in partnership with the Long Walk Foundation and proudly sponsored by Happsa Group.
The first of its kind held in Bayside Melbourne, the OLA Little Long Walk saw over 300 students participate in a walk in and around their school in Cheltenham.
Students begun the walk with an Acknowledgement to Country, and with School Principal Richard Jacques and Long Walk General Manager Leanne Brooke, explaining the history and significance of the Long Walk and Michael Long’s story.
As part of the walk, the students carried banners that they had earlier made and passed on message sticks to each of the individual classes as they participated in a COVID-safe version of the walk.
OLA Principal Richard Jacques said that the school and students were excited to take part in the event.
“We would like to thank The Long Walk Foundation and Happsa Group for choosing our school to collaborate on this project and for giving our students an opportunity to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture,” Richard said.
General Manager of the Long Walk Foundation, Leanne Brooke said that having OLA and Happsa collaborate with Long Walk on this project will give students a further understanding and opportunity to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
“Little Long Walks are an important way to increase understanding, celebrate the First Peoples of Australia and promote and foster Reconciliation, unity and respect,” Leanne said.
In the lead up to the event, students participated in an online Aboriginal Art Workshop making banners to carry at the event using ochre, wattle sap, river rocks and gum nuts. They also decorated rocks with Aboriginal inspired pictures and decorated feet to signify the walk.
The Little Long Walk concept gives primary and secondary school students an opportunity to learn about Michael Long and his historic walk to Canberra in 2004 to ask the Prime Minister to put the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people back on the national agenda.
The Long Walk Trust is a charity inspired by AFL champion Michael Long which aims to develop and empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and also educate the broader Australian community about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories and cultures.
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