A MICRO-GRANT is facilitating reconciliation activities at Coolnwynpin State School, including a mural featuring hand prints of each student and staff member.
The Healing Foundation - an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-run organisation that partners with Australian communities to drive projects addressing ongoing trauma from policies including the stolen generations - provided grants of up to $700 for schools across Australia.
The grants could be used to run activities about the stolen generations.
It came between National Reconciliation Week, which ended earlier in June, and NAIDOC Week in July, which celebrates the culture, history and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
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Coolnwynpin's funding has been used to implement activities designed in collaboration with local Indigenous Elders, during which students learned about the ongoing need to reconcile with Indigenous people.
The piece de resistance for the school will be its large, colourful hand print mural, which is set to be completed and unveiled on June 25.
Local Indigenous Elders are guiding students through the creative process.
Arts teacher Lisa Rose said the hand prints would symbolise the scattering of the stolen generations and their resilience.
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare figures show higher rates of chronic health issues, disability and economic and social disadvantage for the stolen generations and their descendants.
"The intergenerational trauma caused by actions like the forced removal of children from their families is evidenced in communities such as school communities," Ms Rose said.
"We have students in our school who may or may not identify with the historical events that have influenced their path in life.
"It's important for all communities to take steps to acknowledge the wrongs of the past and support people to speak for themselves, tell their own stories and be in charge of their own healing."
