My year on Bathurst Island, NT

The opening school mass at Xavier Catholic College took place a week ago. It was a very special event for me as I have only been witness to how Mass is run in main stream environments. It was great to see a blend of influences from both Tiwi and traditional English. We were supposed to walk down the main street as two schools MCPS (Primary School) and Xavier to the new Church which holds Mass several times a week and at 5pm on Sundays, however, the weather gods were out in force and it was rain as what has been usual business for the last 3 weeks straight. so both schools merged under our Basketball hanger for the celebration of the Mass to begin our school year. Several things happened that were different to "normal Mass" lets call it.. The entrance hymn was instead performed by local Tiwi Strong women and year 7 students perfroming a spirit dance. this was well done and it was great to see the year 7 students take pride in this part of the Mass.  The greeting of the G...

Xavier Catholic College   Wurrumiyanga  Bathurst Island Bit of a history lesson first.... Francis Xavier Gsell ,  OBE  (30 June 1872 – 12 July 1960) was an Australian  Roman Catholic  bishop and missionary, known as the "Bishop with 150 wives". He began active missionary work in  Papua  in 1900, then in 1906 re-established the Catholic Church in Palmerston (now  Darwin ), Northern Territory. He established an Aboriginal mission on  Bathurst Island  in 1910 and worked there until 1938. Though unsuccessful in converting adults, he persisted with children's education and "bought" many girls promised in marriage to older men according to tribal custom. He became known as the "Bishop with 150 wives" (also the title of his autobiography) for his activities in freeing girls from such arranged marriages, thus making it possible for them to marry men of their own age . He studied the intricate laws and customs of the lo...

Orientation Week – Darwin At the beginning of each new school year here in the NT, the Catholic diocese of Darwin invite all new teachers to their NT schools to a week-long orientation/professional development. Troy (another Taylor boy) and I jumped on a plane and flew into Darwin on the 23 rd of January and were swiftly taken to the Vibe hotel located in a swankier part of Darwin’s waterfront district. I was allocated a room and got myself unpacked in an efficient manner and back down and heading to Casuarina shopping center which is one of the largest shopping outlets in Darwin. A quick sample of the local Chinese food and a can coke. The coke was sickly sweet. After not drinking it for a week I quickly realised my body was slowly adjusting to minimal sugar intake that had been my previous week on the island. So since that Monday I have not had another can of the drink……one vice down….many more to go! A quick round of shopping saw us back to the waterfront and getting rea...