Birlirr Ngawiyiwu Catholic School

This is my second year at Birlirr Ngawiyiwu (Holy Spirit) Catholic School in Ringer Soak, a remote indigenous school just near the border of WA and NT, about 400km south of Kununurra.

 Two ideas have sustained me in my stay here. They are; 1) Justice is restoring to wholeness that which has been broken; and 2) As Catholics we are, each one of us, called to open the love of God to others.

To begin I have to give you a short history lesson…….

 The Djaru people of this area used to work on Gordon Downs cattle station. Prior to the Whitlam era they were only paid in food, tobacco and clothing and were treated very poorly by the station managers. When, in the early 1970’s, the law changed to require that all Aboriginal station workers be paid full wages, every Djaru man, woman and child was evicted from Gordon Downs. Homeless, they walked into Halls Creek, 160km away.

 This injustice left the Djaru people broken but not defeated. They petitioned the government for some land to call their own and the Kundat Djaru Aboriginal Community was built in Ringer Soak, just 7km from the boundary of Gordon Downs Station.

 The Sisters of St Joseph were asked to start a school in Ringer Soak and in 1985 2 sisters started teaching here. They worked with the Djaru people to restore this community of people to wholeness. As well as working for justice in this way the Sisters selflessly opened the love of God to the Djaru people through their teaching and in their living witness to Gospel values.

 These days, Birlirr Ngawiyiwu Catholic School is run by CEWA and has 7 Djaru and 5 non-Djaru staff members. What would you see if you visited this school? You would see hard working staff and happy, well behaved students. You would see a positive school culture where there are high expectations for students in relation to attendance, behaviour and working to capacity.

 You would see the continuance of those two ideas which the Josephite Sisters embodied and which I find so inspiring. They are ideas which all Catholic Principals can embrace:

Justice is restoring to wholeness that which has been broken.

We are all called to open the love of God to others.