SENIOR SCHOOL
Eagle project picked up by West Coast Eagles
As is often the case at Guildford Grammar School, a casual conversation about an interesting idea has resulted in the
development of a unique and collaborative project between the School’s Indigenous students and the West Coast Eagles to
celebrate the AFL Indigenous Round.
The Eagle project started as a conversation
between our Indigenous Program
Coordinator, Andrew Beck, and one of his
colleagues at the West Coast Eagles.
It involved a large puppet of an eagle, some
Indigenous dancers, and a performance at a
West Coast Eagles match!
A group of students, with the expertise
of Karen Hethey set about making a
large puppet of an eagle, which would
be operated by four students. The eagle
formed part of the match day entertainment
for the 21 June fixture at Perth Stadium
against St Kilda, performing during half
time as well as before and after the match.
As well as the four students operating the
eagle, 13 students performed an Indigenous
dance around the eagle.
The students involved in the project worked
with puppeteer Karen Hethey to create the
large puppet. The students were joined by
a group of West Coast Eagles players on
Tuesday 22 May, who helped with some of
the assembly work and discussed the project
with the students. The players brought
along the “Eagle Vision” team, who filmed
the students and players working on the
project, even interviewing a few of our
students!
Thank you to everyone involved in bringing
this great project to life and for the
Photo by Jodie Gilbert.
opportunity for our students to perform in
front of a large and enthusiastic crowd.
PSA Indigenous Round
The PSA Indigenous Round was held on
Saturday 26 May at Guildford Grammar
School against Wesley College. It was
an honour to have Indigenous Elder May
McGuire and her daughter Carol Innes
perform a moving Welcome to Country
ceremony for the players and spectators.
It was fitting that in Mr Gee’s last year as
Headmaster at Wesley College our two
schools played each other, given our strong
commitment to our Indigenous student
programs and the fact that our schools
initiated the PSA Indig enous round. The
game provides but one of our markers of
the importance of National Reconciliation
Week and our commitment to making a
difference.
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