Welcome to the Cross Cultural Commission Website.
"If you confess that Jesus is Lord and believe that God raised him from death, you will be saved. For it is by our faith that we are put right with God; it is by our confession that we are saved. The scripture says, "Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed." Rom 10:9-11
NAIDOC celebrations are held around Australia in the first full week in July to celebrate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. NAIDOC originally stood for ‘National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee’. This committee was once responsible for organising national activities during NAIDOC Week and its acronym has become the name of the week itself. The photos in the photo gallery under "NAIDOC Week July" (boys and girls in red) are of the Emmanuel UCA Youth Dance Group performing at the NAIDOC celebrations at Trinity Bay State High School in Cairns. The Dance Group were invited to perform by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Students and Staff (NAIDOC Organising Committee at Trinity Bay SHS). The organising committee is co-ordinated by Kerry Hollingsworth who is the Community Education Counsellor at Trinity Bay. Kerry's roles is to promote the well being of the Aboriginal and Islander students and encourage leadership and positive role models. Part of the leadership development program for the students at Trinity Bay was to organise the whole week of NAIDOC activities at the school, including the School Assembly at which the Emmanuel Youth Group performed.
Many thanks goes to Kerry Hollingsworth and Staff, both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous for your invitation and also for all the work you do to develop the future leaders of our Nation. May God continue to give you strength in your work. With Love and Best Wishes from the Emmanuel Uniting Church in Australia.
Below is the introduction speech by Jasmin Latu on this day.
As an Aboriginal person whose ancestors on my mothers’ side come from tribal lands outside of the Cairns City area, I wish to pay my respect to the traditional owners of this land upon which we stand today. This was an important practice in traditional times, and it is only right and proper that this tradition be maintained now and into the future.
Hello my name is Jasmin Latu and on behalf of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff of Trinity Bay State High School I would like to welcome you all to another tradition that has emerged at our school, the NAIDOC WEEK School Assembly.
It is a tradition that we are proud of as Indigenous students attending this school because the NAIDOC WEEK School Assembly provides us with a great opportunity to:
So ….. What does NAIDOC mean and why is NAIDOC so important to Indigenous Australians? NAIDOC has its beginnings in the 1920’s and 30’s when several key Aboriginal organizations joined together to draw attention to the living conditions experienced by Aboriginal people, and their lack of citizenship rights. In 1937, William Cooper and William Ferguson called for a permanent annual Aborigines Day, and with the support of the National Missionary Council of Australia many churches began to observe the Sunday before Australia Day. It was in 1955 that the Council moved the date to the first Sunday in July. 1957 saw the official formation of a National Aborigines Day Observance Committee (N.A.D.O.C) with the support of Federal and State Governments, the churches and Indigenous organizations. NADOC day was extended to a week long celebration in 1974 and in 1988 the Committee changed its name to National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) to acknowledge Torres Strait Islander people.
NAIDOC week is celebrated all around Australia and each year a national theme is chosen to focus the celebrations. The National NAIDOC Ball and Awards Ceremony is held in a different city each year and Indigenous people who have made a significant contribution in arts, music, culture, education, sport, employment, politics and community service, are honored. NAIDOC activities are hosted all around Australia by communities, schools, organizations, government departments, tertiary institutions and businesses, during the week long celebrations.
Our School celebrated this year with a NAIDOC Art Exhibition, Student Motivational and Cultural Workshop, Traditional Music, Dance and Craft activities and of course our School Assembly, all of which has been organized by our Year 11 Indigenous Leadership Program students, with the support of committed staff. In September we will also hold our annual and much anticipated NAIDOC concert. 2007 is especially significant as we are celebrating the 50th Anniversary of National NAIDOC Week, and the 40th Anniversary of the “Yes Vote” in the 1967 Referendum.
Finally, as descendents of the FIRST AUSTRALIANS we acknowledge that other people have since settled in this country and now call Australia home. As a gesture of goodwill, each year we invite a cross-section of groups from our school community to join in our NAIDOC week celebrations. We especially thank them for accepting our invitation and for working with us to foster mutual respect as we all contribute to building a positive, healthy and vibrant school community here at Trinity Bay. Once again thank you for your participation and HAPPY NAIDOC WEEK.
The Cross Cultural Commission was greeted and welcomed by Rev. Lulu Senituli and members of the Park Church congregation and youth group. Members of the congregation prepared food, entertainment, worship etc, for the CCC, of which we were all very grateful and thank-ful for. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and celebration to mark the first meeting of the Cross Cultural Commission (ACC). Photos of the celebrations can be found in the photo gallery, Please continue to pray for the work of this commission and the work of the ACC as a whole as we continue to bear witness to Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.
Dear Rev. Sione Alo and Tongan ACC Members,
‘Oku tau kei Fakafeta’i ai pe kihe ‘Otua ‘ihe taulama hao ‘o tau tu’uta lelei mai ai kihe ngaahi ‘ahoni. ‘Oku tau kei tuku ‘ae ngaahi kololia kotoa kihe ‘Eiki ko Sisu Kalaisi ‘ihe Laumalie Ma’oni’oni. ‘Oku tau kei Fakafeta’i foki he ‘oku kei taumu’a tonu ma’u ai pe ‘ae Vaka ‘oe Kosipeli he ‘oku kei eiki-vaka pe ‘a Kalaisi.
On behalf of the Cross Cultural Commission, we thank the Lord for the people of Tonga and we congratulate you in joining the Assembly of Confessing Congregations within the Uniting Church of Australia.
We look forward to working with you as we stand and humbly confess our sins within UCA and to boldly proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Pea hange koe talatalaifale ‘a Paula kia Timote:
“Ko e potu Folofola kotoa pe ne fakamanava mei he ‘Otua-----ke tau malanga ‘aki ‘ae folofola fa’a fai pe he faingamalie moe ‘ikai ha faingamalie”
May our Lord continue to lead you, give you courage, strength and wisdom to do His Will.
Blessings
Rev. Lulu Senituli
I want to take this opportunity to thank John Faulds, who is an old friend of mine from High School in Western Australia, for creating this wonderful interactive/multi-media website for the Cross Cultural Commission. If you need a professional website created, I 'highly' commend TYSSEN DESIGN to you.
Let me just share with you how this website came into being. About a month ago now, I think, I was trying to setup a site for the cross cultural commission myself (a very basic site), when out of the blue I recevied an email from John titled "Don't know why", followed by these words,
"Don't know why... but I was sitting here doing my work and suddenly you popped into my head and I thought: "I wonder where you're at these days". A bit of Googling later and I found this email address (hope it's the right one)".
After a number of email exchanges sharing with one another what we are up to now days, John kindly offered to help me out with the website. I shared with John what I really wanted from a website (not just a basic site), and he put together the first CCC site for me which I was absolutely thrilled about. This has now turned into the official ACC website.
Anyway, I hope after you have surfed through this site, you will take time to check out 'Tyssen Design' and seriously consider using Tyssen Design for your own professional, high quality, affordable, web development, that is easy to use, accessible and built with the latest web standards.
John, on behalf of the Cross Cultural Commision, and now the Assembly of Confessing Congregations as a whole, we would like to sincerely thank-you for your help in creating and designing this website for us.
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