On Saturday 21 May, 27 students in the College choir and a number of staff travelled to Federation Square to take part in the celebration of The Long Walk. The Long Walk is a charity which supports reconciliation among all Australians irrespective of race and it raises awareness to improve and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and life opportunities.
The Long Walk charity was created as a result of Michael Long's 650km walk to Canberra in 2004, to meet personally with Prime Minister John Howard to discuss his concerns about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues and the importance of ensuring these issues were addressed as part of the national agenda.
The MLMC choir was invited to perform at The Long Walk celebration at Federation Square prior to the walk to the MCG, which was such an honour for our students. The choir performed two songs, Ngarra Burra Ferra and Took the Children Away.
For the first time in the College's long history, our students performed at Federation Square and sang in a First Nations' language — in this case, the Yorta Yorta song which tells the story of Moses leading the Israelites from captivity in Egypt.
Aunty Joy Wandin Murphy, a direct descendant of William Barak after which our Barak Campus is named, was a very keen observer of the beautiful harmonies our students produced. The students were also able to witness Aunty Joy's granddaughter Chenile Chandler perform a Call to Country, which was a truly beautiful experience.
The College community were honoured to be involved in this event and proud of the choir's performance.
