MacKillop News – Term 4 Week 5
8th November 2023
From the Principal
Dear MacKillop Catholic College Community,
I am delighted to extend my congratulations to the Graduating Class of 2023! This occasion marks the culmination of years of hard work, dedication, and growth. We are immensely proud of each and every one of our graduates, and I want to take this opportunity to celebrate not only their achievements but also the tireless efforts of our dedicated staff who have guided them on this journey.
To our graduating class, as you move forward into the next chapter of your lives, I encourage you to carry with you the lessons you’ve learned here at MacKillop. Always strive for excellence, continue to seek knowledge, and be a beacon of hope and compassion in your communities. You are the future leaders and changemakers, and we have every confidence in your ability to make a positive impact on the world.
I would also like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our staff members – our teachers, administrators, support staff, and all those who have played a role in the education and development of our graduates. Your dedication and commitment have been instrumental in shaping these young minds, and your hard work has not gone unnoticed.
As our graduates leave the familiar halls of MacKillop, we hope they carry with them the strong foundation of our five values. Remember, you will always be a part of the MacKillop family, and we eagerly anticipate hearing about your future successes and endeavours.
In the spirit of Saint Mary MacKillop, let us continue to uphold the principles of faith, resilience, and the pursuit of knowledge in all that we do. Together, we can make a positive difference in our world.
Once again, congratulations to the Graduating Class of 2023. We are incredibly proud of your accomplishments, and we look forward to witnessing the incredible journeys that lie ahead.
May God bless you all abundantly.
Lucas Hurley
Principal
Student Leadership
Congratulations to our newly elected student leadership team members of 2024!
2024 Enrolments News
It was wonderful to meet all the Year 6s who are going to be joining us as Year 7s next year at orientation day a couple of weeks ago. Although we had reached capacity, due to overwhelming demand, we have got the all clear to add an extra Year 7 class for 2024, so we are still accepting enrolments – but please get in quickly – this is the maximum we are able to increase capacity to.
Catholic Identity News
Fundraising Day for the Missions
Arts News
Arts Week
Arts Week is coming up in Week 8 Term 4. Tickets available now.
Bell Shakespeare Performance
Young Musician of the Year
Congratulations to Vanessa Owino, overall winner of Senior Young Musician of the Year, and to all other prizewinners and participants. This years entrants put on an extremely professional, impressive and entertaining series of performances, making a tough job for the adjudicators.
Hot100FM Apple for the Teacher
A short while back the crew from Hot100 came out to MacKillop to give out free mangos and announce the start of the 2023 “Apple for the Teacher” prize nominations. Students nominated four great MacKillop teachers, who you can now vote on. Start casting your votes now for the Hot100 Apple for the Teacher prize! You can vote once a day until the 17th. https://www.hot100fm.com.au/win/2023-apple-for-the-teacher/
Aboriginal Sea Company Visit
On September 20 the Year 7 Agriculture class was visited Claus Jeffreys and Mohammad Corpus from Aboriginal Sea Company. Both men are from families with fourteen children, and both were born to Central Desert Mothers and mixed blood Aboriginal Fathers, and raised in Darwin when Nakara was still bush. Claus and Mohammad and their parents were all given an excellent education by the Missionaries, and so were able to enter into gainful employment.
In company with fellow Indigenous Elder and Aboriginal Catholic Minister Dean Chisholm, and locally born fisherman Phillip Sutherland, Uncle Claus and Mohammad ‘talked story’ and gave us information about the history of aboriginal fishing custom in the Northern Territory. They showed the class how to collect fish for analysis without getting eaten by a crocodile.
They discussed the arguments for crocodile management in the Northern Territory so that children in the remote communities would have somewhere to play. In 1972 a Canadian environmental scientist, Dr. Harry Messel had come to the Territory, and driven up and down a few rivers in his big steel boat and then declared the crocodiles to be under threat. Shortly afterward the Government protected the crocodiles and 50 years later they are now in plague proportion and interfering in the life of the Community, especially the rivers, which were for Millenia, the playground of the children, but no more.
Mohammad, who is in his 40’s, is the youngest of fourteen children. He talked about his Dad, Freddy Corpus, who is Australia’s last surviving hard hat pearl diver. His Dad was born in Broome in 1928, and started working on luggers as a salvager [in 1941] when he was a teenager, collecting trochus shells, hunting flat back turtles and crocodiles. Mohammad told us how dangerous his dad’s job was, how his Dad had near-death experiences when diving to depths of up to 30 meters, using only a hose as breathing apparatus. He shared the ABC production about his Dad.
Memories of a hard hat pearl diver – ABC (none) – Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Claus and Mohammad offered to come and speak to the School Community about other matters pertaining to culture, custom politics and history relating to any subject.
Patrick J Sibly
Teacher of Agriculture
[1] Memories of a hard hat pearl diver – ABC (none) – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
[2] Memories of a hard hat pearl diver – ABC (none) – Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Languages
Indonesia Teacher Exchange
Two of our Languages faculty staff, Mr Wallace and Ms Lenny, recently did a teacher exchange with our sister school in Indonesia, SMA 2 Batang, after some of their staff had visited us earlier in the year. They were warmly welcomed with dancers and an exchange of gifts, and Mr Wallace had the opportunity to teach French to Indonesian students. They were honoured as State Guests at the Bridge Exchange Programme where a selection of MacKillop Saints merch and Australian gifts were presented to Indonesian dignitaries. The international relationships MacKillop has developed with our sister schools continue to provide excellent opportunities for both staff and students here and around the world.
Outdoor Education
Dundee Excursion
Stage 1 Outdoor Ed started the term off with a bang going on a 2 night camp to Dundee Beach. Activities included fishing, sandcastle making, a fire starting competition and a beach clean up. We ended up getting rained on 3 times but that didn’t deter these fishermen! Overall a successful trip.
Siobhan Clark
Outdoor Education Teacher
Science News
Nuclear Submarine Competition Win
Three teams from MacKillop Catholic College participated in a national competition – the Nuclear Powered Submarine Propulsion Challenge – organised by the Australian Defence Force and STEM Hub. They selected two teams from the NT – our science wizards are the winners in both junior and senior divisions.
Congratulations to the members of the winning teams – Isaac Johnstone, Jakarli Lee, Jennefer Krohn and Christopher Goddard from the Junior Division and Samantha Kimutai, Praise Isiakpere and Tjaart Vanderwalt from the Senior Division.
These seven young adults will represent the NT at the national level event, and they have won an all-expenses-paid three day excursion to Perth during Week 10 in December this year.
Roy Joseph
Head of Science
Mother Teresa Primary School Science Excursion at MacKillop
Earlier this week it was our pleasure to host this excellent team of young scientists from Mother Teresa Catholic Primary School who enjoyed a day of scientific discovery with Mr Bryan-Brown and Mr Joseph, learning about chemistry, static electricity and all sorts of other exciting things.
World Teachers Day
Thank you Lia Finocchiaro MLA for your gift to our teachers on World Teachers Day.
Year 12 News
Some Notes on upcoming events from Mr Jackson:
Week 7 (20th-26th November)
Monday
Graduation Mass Practice 9:30-10:45am
Graduation Mass practice begins at 9:30am and should be finished by 10:45am. After this, students are invited to make their way to Free Spirit to have lunch and hang out with the PC team and other year 12 students.
Wednesday
Breakfast at 8-9am
Students arrive to school and make their way to the café where they will be given their tabards, yearbooks, and make speeches for their classes and teachers as a cohort. Students must be in their full formal uniform.
Mass at 9-10:30am
All families are invited to attend the mass at 9:00am and should run until 10:30am where everyone will be invited up to the staffroom to have snacks and relax.
Thursday
Graduation Dinner Practice at 9-11am
All students must attend the Darwin Convention Centre to go through the proceedings of the night. This will take no longer than 2 hours and it is suggested that everyone brings their shoes to practice walking up, down and across the stage.
Graduation Dinner at 5-11pm
Students and families to arrive between 5 and 5:30pm with canapes and drinks being served before the official proceedings. Official proceedings start at 6pm and will go until 9:30pm. Everyone will then have time to take photos and socialise until 11pm. Dinner and dessert is provided while there will be a cash bar available for families (not students) throughout the evening.
Week 8 (27th Nov – 3rd Dec)
Wednesday
Presentation Night at 6pm
All awards will be presented at the Presentation Night on the 30th of November at the Darwin Italian Club, 131 Abala Rd, Marrara. Students receiving an award must be wearing their full formal uniform.
An email has been sent out to families that have a student who will be receiving an award. Please RSVP by Monday the 6th November to Kim Schofield.
kim.schofield@nt.catholic.edu.au
Indigenous Sash Presentations
MacKillop has a tradition going back six years of recognising the achievement of our indigenous graduates with a sash presentation ceremony, serving as a right of passage as they transition from their secondary education into taking on greater responsibilities in the wider world and in their communities. It is an opportunity for cultural acknowledgement of this significant milestone in their lives, and recognition of the efforts of those who’ve come before them in making these opportunities attainable. Yesterday evening we celebrated the success of four young women and four young men in the class of 2023. Congratulations! Well done also to our AIEW team on organising an excellent night and to all the families, teachers and VIPs who joined us for this occasion.
Year 12 InTaD
There has been plenty of good work done at Industrial Technology and Design Workshop this year.
We will soon say goodbye to our Year 12s who have completed some excellent work and enjoyed some light-hearted moments.
– Mr Sibly
NT Youth Parliament
Teams of five young people from various schools and organisations across the NT came together for a week over the break to put forward 7 bills at the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly at Parliament House.
Youth Parliament is about bringing together young Territorians to share stories, have a voice in what happens in their community, empathise with each other, and build a stronger, more well connected Northern Territory.
The process included planning and practice sessions over Term 3, a training weekend, and the actual presentation and debates of Bills, as well as an opportunity to speak on other matters important to them in the week of Youth Parliament.
MacKillop’s team of Year 12 and 11 students, Danella, Ariana, Isabella, Elizabeth and Addison all committed to this opportunity and successfully put forward an NT Mortuary Management Bill that looks at how we respect and store the deceased in the NT. This Bill was passed and will later be presented to the NT Government to be considered for action. Other Bills that were debated and passed during Youth Parliament included: Improving Remote Communities, Homelessness Prevention, Ant-Racism, Personal Alcohol Licences and Vaping Prevention.
Saints News
New Gear
The MacKillop clan tartan will make an appearance on our Rugby Union uniforms this season.
Thank you to the Rugby Shop Darwin for producing these new uniforms, and for these great new Saints bucket hats.
Sport News
Congratulations Tanessa
Congratulations to Tanessa Hampton, who was selected as part of the Indigenous basketball All-Australian team. Selections were made based on performance in the 17U National Indigenous Basketball Tournament. An incredible achievement!
Community News
