Page 5901 - Week 14 - Wednesday, 7 December 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
and a number of contributions from various people. Father Lachlan Coll also did some of the blessings and a reading.
Morgan Arnold did the acknowledgement of country, Thomas Deishan did the welcome and history, and we had prayers from Olivia Parquette of year 5, Stuart Thark from year 4, Teliah Collins from year 3, Jacob Dawson from year 2, Frances Malone from kinder and Emma Kinmoth from year 1. Taylor Construction Group were involved as were Dutaillis Architects. I pay tribute to all those for putting together a valuable addition and also for a wonderful opening ceremony.
I finally pay tribute to the St Anthony’s parish primary school community. They do a wonderful job. I grew up in the area just up the road and was part of the St Anthony’s parish. I attended the school up the road, Padua Catholic high school, as it was, which is part of the same parish. I have fond memories of the area and I am always given a very warm welcome.
I pay tribute to the school community—the principal, all the staff and all the parents who make up a wonderful community—which makes a wonderful contribution to education in the ACT.
The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe
MR DOSZPOT (Brindabella) (7.24): I would like to mention an interesting book I received recently from Magabala Books called The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe. It is a first in sporting literature. The Aboriginal Soccer Tribe is the largely untold story of Aboriginal involvement with the world game in our nation’s sporting history. The acceptance that Aboriginal players found within the post World War II migrant communities had a profound impact on their lives. The multicultural environment of Australian soccer provided them with a haven from the prejudice and racism of wider Australian society.
Interweaving personal stories and extensive research with an instant broader Indigenous world community, Maynard’s book is a celebration of the extraordinary journey taken by Aboriginal sports men and women to forge the way ahead for the present crop of talented players. John Maynard’s book is a wonderful account of the history of Aboriginal involvement in football with stories of the evolution of the game with Bondi Neal, the first Aboriginal football star in the early 20th century, followed by the famous names of John Moriarty, Charles Perkins, Harry Williams and on to Jade North, Travis Dodd and today’s emerging stars like James Brown and Adam Sarota.
I was pleased to contribute some photographs and a few reminiscences to the book about long-time friend Charlie Perkins and his involvement with the Canberra community. He was secretary/permanent head of Aboriginal affairs based in Woden in the mid-1980s, and during this period Charlie also somehow found time to establish the Nomads soccer team, which was predominantly an Aboriginal team with a couple of us interlopers. It featured players like John Moriarty, Gerry Hill, Neville Perkins, the late Joe Croft, John Janke, Keith Brandy, Terry Kapeen, Ralph Rigby and Billy Cooper. Charlie’s son Adam was dragooned in sometimes when we were short.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video