Where’s the grass? 

That was one of the first questions the kids from central Australia asked when they arrived in Sydney as Trinity’s first partnership guests. 

Having wowed Trinity students in the Northern Territory with their bushcraft and profound knowledge of country, now it was their turn to look wide-eyed in an unfamiliar environment. 

For the seven Year 4-7 students from remote Murray Downs School, it was the first time they had ever been on a train, a ferry, an elevator, an escalator or a plane (bar one).

Travelling from a three-teacher school to one with 100 times as many students also took a bit of getting used to, as did the “mansions” people lived in. 

But they adapted to their new home for a week with scarcely a hiccup, thanks to the bonds forged when they were hosts earlier in the year; the older students had stayed in touch with their newfound friends by email and phone. 

“Seeing the green shirts of Trinity meant, ‘Oh, we know these guys’,” said Murray Downs Principal Mitch Valentine, who taught in NSW for eight years before gaining a Masters degree in special education and heading to the Territory with his partner Annie. 

 “Our students were going to where they knew people already. That connection was already formed, and fostered and continued beyond the school visits.” 

He said he was “really grateful” that his school had partnered with Trinity. 

“It has been a genuine, symbiotic relationship. It hasn’t been one-way, which I have found very welcoming for myself and the kids. 

“Everybody at every turn has done everything they can for us to be able to co-exist at the same level. 

“That has been at the base of everything we have done – let’s not shine a light on any differences; let’s instead celebrate what we have in common.”

He was impressed that Trinity’s Primary Years Programme (PYP), developed by the International Baccalaureate organisation, had helped produced “world citizens, not Sydney citizens” at the Prep School, where the visitors were housed all together in the gym. 

“We could see that was at the core of the students, so everybody was already welcomed. We were all the same; it was a global perspective.” 

The visitors had a busy week, joining in art, music, STEAM, and PE classes at Strathfield, and Green Patch, cooking, and woodwork experiences at Summer Hill, as well as walking to the Aboriginal memorial at nearby Yeo Park. 

They also took a ferry trip to Manly, visited Taronga Zoo and Sydney Aquarium, enjoyed a sideline and guard of honour experience at the Bulldogs v Cowboys NRL game at Accor Stadium, and sampled a wide range of Sydney cuisine, including BBQ, fish and chips, ice cream, pizza, fried chicken, bubble tea, donuts, and dumplings at Burwood Chinatown. 

Year 7 student Chrisayne enjoyed meeting up again with his Trinity friends, and learning new ball games from them; he also thought they had “cool hats and uniforms”. 

Venise (Year 6) said: “They are fun to play with; they’re cool.” 

Tazania (Year 5) said: “They are helpful and they are kind.” 

They loved seeing the Opera House and the reptiles and lions at the zoo. 

They were surprised by the number of kids at Trinity and liked the new experience of moving from one classroom to another with different teachers. 

Chris Wyatt described the visit, funded by the federal government’s City Country Partnership programme, as “life changing in many ways” for the Murray Downs students, as well as having a “huge impact” on the Trinity students and staff. 

“This experience has only been possible due to the willingness of so many Trinity staff to step up and help with different activities, as well as just being such a welcoming community. Our visitors were overwhelmed by the latter.” 

Headmaster Tim Bowden said the partnership was one way to demonstrate Trinity’s commitment to reconciliation.  

“We recognise that at the heart of the Christian message is a call to love. Jesus said: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself’ (Mark 12:31). Therefore, it is imperative that the Trinity Grammar School community expresses this love through committing to strengthen relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples, for the benefit of all Australians. 

“These relationships will flourish when truth is acknowledged, when respect is demonstrated, and when understanding is developed through education and interaction.”  

He said education was the key to helping young people appreciate the riches of indigenous culture and to understand themselves as “agents” with both the responsibility and the capacity to make reconciliation a reality.  

This article originally appeared in our December 2024 Edition of Trinity News which you can view on our online digital bookshelf.