August 4th was Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day and in Rockhampton, Indigenous children took part in The Dharumbal Dash.
A Dharumbal Dash event organiser says that community involvement helped make the day a success.
The Dharumbal Dash involved more than 120 First Nations children in grades 4 – 10 from schools in the Central Queensland towns of Rockhampton and Gracemere
The Round-Robin style activities included healthy eating and lifestyle workshops, Dharumbal culture and language as well as music and dance.
A Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi man, James Mundy is a Local Level Alliance Facilitator at Uniting Care Community and organised the event.
Mr Mundy says that the engagement from students was impressive, later adding that everyone in the community played their part in the event.
Mr Mundy also says that he would like to see the event run regularly.
Unfortunately Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day coincided with the printing of racist cartoon in one of Australia’s most prominent newspapers.
When asked about how the reaction of the cartoon impacted the coverage of initiatives such as Dharumbal Dash, Mr Mundy said that although we need to combat negative stereotypes, it was disappointing that the media focused on something so negative.
