‘Does anyone know what happened in Australia on January 26th 1788?’

 ‘Does anyone know what happened in Australia on 26 January 1788?

What makes up Aboriginal identity when you don’t know who you are?

Should we be allowed to let people in? Whose responsibility is it?

What about when other people welcomed us when we needed somewhere to go after the great famine?’

30 students from Woodbrook College, Presentation College Bray and Loreto Secondary School Bray took part in a joint workshop at Loreto on November 16th, exploring Aboriginal affairs, migration and issues from an Australian context led by Dom Ofner of the Edmund Rice Centre, Sydney.

The students discussed a range of issues including:

  • The history of Aboriginal Australians
  • Identity, stereotyping and ‘othering’
  • Colonialism, intergenerational trauma and justice
  • Asylum seekers, Manus Island and the context of asylum seeker in direct provision in Ireland

The workshop was delivered as part of the Let’s Talk project in conjunction with the ERC, Sydney.

  • News report: Read the news report in the Bray People online, published on November 25th, 2017.
  • Photo credit: Dom Ofner on peace and justice in Australia (November 16th, 2017) by Tony Daly/80:20 Educating and Acting for Better World