Wadeye (pronounced Wad-air), also known as Port Keats, is a tribal Aboriginal Catholic community situated on the western edge of the Daly River Reserve in the Northern Territory. Flying time from Darwin is around 50 minutes. During the wet season Wadeye is cut off from the outside world for up to five months.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School Wadeye is a Catholic Aboriginal School that is bilingual. Bilingual education was introduced in 1976 and was first accredited in 1985.

There are about 367 students attending the school ranging in age from 4 yrs of age to 19 yrs. The children are taught in both Murrinhpatha and English.

Programs Delivered: Music, Dance, Healthy Body (nutrition and exercise activities), Goal Setting, Sport (swimming, athletics, basketball, softball and organized games)

Highlights of Visit: 

∙ Returning to the community and seeing its positive growth and smiling, familiar faces!

∙ The warm hospitality from the staff at OLSH, especially the secondary school teachers who allowed us to take over their staff room

∙ Learning that the song written last year, ‘Can You Dance?', was still being played and sung by the community and had even been taught to many of the musicians, who were playing it on the guitar, drums, etc.

∙ Creating a powerful new song with the secondary students called ‘Our Life, Our Land', which yields the inspirational lyric, ‘The future comes from within'

∙ Including four secondary students on the team as role models - fantastic young men who proved themselves to be excellent role models for the youth of their community (many thanks to Justin Crawley and his team!)

∙ Personal guided tours of the community and outstations by welcoming locals, providing the team with great insight and local knowledge

Daly River

The Daly River team worked with both schools that service the community - St Francis Xavier School and Woolianna School - in total approximately 100 students from transition to Grade 8.  

This visit, the music team joined the group mid-week and worked with a group of teenagers to record a song written especially for them, entitled "We Belong". The team also worked with the community band, recording their song "The Flood Song" and producing a video clip to go with it. Both instilled a strong sense of pride, in themselves and in community, and we are looking forward to hearing them performed the next time we come to Daly River!

Programs Delivered: Music, Healthy Body (nutrition and exercise activities), Goal Setting, Sport (basketball, karate and organized games)

Highlights of Visit:

∙ Coming back to Daly River and visiting old friends, plus making new ones!

∙ Bringing the community together for an end-of-visit barbecue and showcasing the songs

∙ Working in the classroom and doing some fun healthy eating activities

∙ Encouraging healthy lunches with our Healthy Sandwich Making session

∙ Having the kids show us their community, taking us to the (nearly dry) billabong and teaching us about their favourite bush tucker