Richmond High School 'sea of hands and feet' promotes Reconciliation and NAIDOC

The project was a joint National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee (NAIDOC) and Reconciliation observance, designed to show our local communities that we all stand together.

Kathie Medley, a member of the school's Aboriginal Education Team, who came up with the idea and worked on it together with Aboriginal Education Officer Jennifer Flood, said it was the school's way of showing the community that "no matter where we come from or what our background is, we are together in this changing world."

Ms Medley and the students spent hours cutting out the hands and distributing them to the Home rooms and Richmond High staff.

The project involved as many of the students and staff as possible, and the hands and feet were planted on the lawn by the end of the day on July 2 for passers-by to see.

"With all that is going on in the country and the world at the moment, we thought that showing our local community that the students of Richmond High are standing together in solidarity and continuing to embrace diversity and continuity [was important]," said Ms Medley.

"[It was] such a proud moment for Richmond High seeing how this has all come together."

She said all the students and staff who were involved in the project were enthusiastic about the meaning behind it.

"It was amazing to see what had been done on the hands and feet from beautiful artwork, inspirational quotes and flags of various countries showing the ancestry of many of our students," Ms Medley said.