National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day is held on 4th August each year. It is our national day, dedicated to celebrate our jarjums. The theme of Children’s Day is ‘My Dreaming, My Future’.

A collaborative celebration between the Queensland Centre for Perinatal and Infant Mental Health (QCPIMH), Koobara Kindergarten and Pre-prep, Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), Department of Education and Institute for Urban Indigenous Health was held on August 1st, 2022.

Koobara would like to express much love to QCPIMH, ECEC and IUIH teams and local artist of Munnimbah-dja, Libby Harward and BJ Murphy for a great day of celebrating our jarjums. Libby and BJ led activiites with the jarjums which involved a Smoking Ceremony, fire making, traditional song, painting and stories.

BJ and Libby brought some smooth creek rocks for us to paint. Children chose whether they wanted to wear white ochre on their faces. BJ gathered gum leaves from Country and using the Mother Stick and the Father stick made fire. The jarjums loved the Smoking ceremony. Libby told us a story about the mangroves and the native hibiscus. We had lunch and a delicious cake especially for Children’s Day and the children got a special gift bag.