Maeve Shaw has taken a school project to raise awareness for First Nations people and call for reconciliation.
The Grade 5 Barwon Heads Primary School student wrote a poem about First Nations history and culture to inspire change.
Maeve said she knew as soon as her teacher asked the class to write a poem that she would write about her passion for First Nations culture.
“I think it’s important because it was a really hard time for the Indigenous people when the British took over,” she said.
“My dad and his friend did some songs using Wathawurrung language, but I wanted to add on to that and I take every opportunity I can to get the message across.”
Maeve said her favourite line from the poem was, ‘we stole their land, washed their footsteps away in the sand’, which starts the poem.
“I like that line because its kind of like a metaphor but it’s in real life. They stole the land and kind of washed them away, and I think that starts the poem really well,” she said.
“I love poetry as it’s really fun and you get to rhyme words, but there’s lots of other poems, like haikus, and I think it’s one of my favourite things to do at school.”
Maeve said she also used two lines from an Archie Roach song she loved in the poem after learning about the singer-songwriter and Aboriginal activist during Reconciliation Week.
