INDIGENOUS dancing and a smoking ceremony heralded the start of a special celebration at Inala for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander high school students from around Brisbane archdiocese on October 29.
About 200 people attended the celebration at St Mark’s Church and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Studies Centre for the graduation of Year 12 students who have studied at various Catholic schools in the archdiocese.
Fifty-four students graduated but not all were able to attend the celebration.
Brisbane Catholic Education senior education officer in indigenous education, Rosemary Bell, said it was the first year the graduation Mass had been held in St Mark’s.
Ms Bell said the gathering processed from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Studies Centre to the church, where the welcome, opening prayer and penitential rite were held outside, before the group processed into the church.
