In a moving ceremony opened by former student Kelvin Brown, Macintyre High School's yarning circle is officially open.
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The rain threatened overhead on Thursday morning, as Mr Brown conducted welcome to country and a smoking ceremony to mark the start of the space's education and knowledge sharing tradition.
The brain child of Aboriginal studies teacher Brent Emerson, and pioneered to life with the help of Lisa Watson and supported by principal Lindsay Paul, Mr Emerson was proud of what the students had achieved.
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"Students all had a hand in creating this space," he said.
"They helped move 59 tonnes of rock by hand - I pushed the wheelbarrow for the big rocks," he laughed.
A former student himself, he graduated in 2000 and started teaching at MHS in 2007.
The idea was sparked after repeatedly looking at the space and lamenting the waste.
"I just kept looking out here, and it was this dead boggy space that wasn't doing anything, and Ms Watson was a big driving force for me to put a design in, do a budget up, and from that point it snowballed - it just happened."
A legacy not just for him, but for the students and their children in the future.
"I hope that - if I'm still here - we can see the whole pathway edged, that it just continues to grow. And the students come back with their children and say, we helped build this."
Macintyre High holds a place close to my heart... I feel very privileged to be here today, to be part of this process.
- Kelvin Brown
"It's not just the cultural experience. On Friday afternoons it can be for silent reading time when English can come out here and sit in the sunshine. Percussion for music can come here, drama can come here, we can have our ACG meetings.
"If a psychologist needs to have a chat with a student they can come out here instead of being locked away in an office somewhere, they can come out here."
Mr Brown said as a former student himself, coming back to open the third yarning circle in a month was very poignant.
"The circles have all been different in shape and tools, but all share the same purpose," he explained the the students listening avidly, seated on the rocks of the circle.
"Education, and the sharing of knowledge. Treat it was respect, be courteous, be kind to each other when you're here.
"Macintyre High holds a place close to my heart... I feel very privileged to be here today, to be part of this process."
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