2023 School Magazine

50 YEARS OF WATER POLO On 18 February, the BGGS community celebrated a milestone 50 Years of Grammar Water Polo. Ever since its introduction—when a BGGS team was fielded for the 1973/74 season—Water Polo has been, and remains, a leading sport at the School, with multiple teams entered in each age division and participation reaching heights of roughly 300 players. To honour this long history and celebrate the milestone year, we engaged in a day-long ‘Blue Round’. The day entailed back-to-back BGGS games at Musgrave Park pool, a bake stall filled with delicious goods, and a barbecue managed by the Water Polo Support Group. On the day, it was great to see so many supporters packing the stands, adorned with blue and bearing motivational posters, ready to cheer our teams on. It was a day full of excellent sportsmanship, skill, and absolute fun, and was an incredible way to celebrate this historic year. We are proud of our School’s strong sporting history, and this wonderful event showed us how bright the future of Water Polo is here at Girls Grammar. Ella Coltzau (12G) and Eden Douglas (12E) Water Polo Captains

RECONCILIATION ACTION PLAN On 31 May, Brisbane Girls Grammar School formally launched its first Reconciliation Action Plan. A Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) is an organisation’s formal statement of commitment to reconciliation, with a customised list of steps and initiatives which will be taken to strengthen relationships with, and respect and opportunities for, First Nations People. This year’s Reconciliation Week theme was ‘Be a Voice for Generations’, and we tried to embody this idea across the week, and in our RAP launch activities. The Uralla Club held a yarning circle so students and staff could discuss issues around reconciliation, and created a display of cardboard hands where members of the School community could write ‘what reconciliation means to me’.

During the RAP Launch Assembly, students and staff learned about why BGGS has adopted a Reconciliation Action Plan, what it involves, and were challenged to consider why reconciliation is important to them. Uralla Club leaders, Uralla Coordinators and Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group members, Ms Abby Hills and Ms Susan Garson, and Kuku Yalangi and Wakka Wakka man, Mr Marlon Riley, an educator at Ngutana-Lui Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Studies Centre, addressed the assembly. Following this, Mr Riley conducted a smoking ceremony on the Pool Lawn. A smoking ceremony is a cleansing that creates a pathway to a brighter future. The Libellum Society sold pre-loved fiction books with proceeds going to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation, and the Uralla Club created a display so that the School community could read the 27 actions that we have pledged to undertake by the end of 2024, and commit to supporting those which resonate with them. With thanks to our bakers in Year 11, there were also celebratory cupcakes in the colours of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags. Mr Riley spent time speaking with students about The Dreaming, his perspective on the Voice to Parliament, and sharing knowledge of Country. Funding from a P&F Grant was used to hold the RAP Launch event. Katie Reid (12E) and Elizabeth Shoebridge (12B) Uralla Student Leaders

52 | BRISBANE GIRLS GRAMMAR SCHOOL 2023