Towards the end of last year, Hope House in Palmerston, NT, hosted the Clontarf Top Attenders Camp, which saw boys from Gunbalanya who had achieved 80% school attendance over the term rewarded with a trip to Darwin. While staying at Hope House, the students learnt drumming, took part in a mental health and mindfulness session, and cooked their own meals. They also visited the Darwin Military Museum at East Point, where they watched a movie about the 1942 bombing of Darwin.
On Remembrance Day on November 11, we paid tribute to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice whilst serving in Australia's armed forces. We especially honoured the First Nations servicemen and women whose contributions to Australia's defence too often go unrecognised.
According to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies more than 1,000 Indigenous Australians served in the First World War, 4,000 in the Second World War, and at least 300 in the Vietnam War. Sadly, when these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander personnel came home, they returned to discrimination and prejudice. Read more here.