St Joseph's School, Hindmarsh

Aboriginal Art Project

St Joseph’s Hindmarsh new ‘buddy’ bench has finally revealed, be sure to look out for it in our school environment! 😊

Last week at Assembly, we finally revealed our school’s new buddy bench.

What excitement! A HUGE thanks goes to Nikki Carabetta and the school students involved, who designed and painted our ‘buddy’ bench.

For your understanding and appreciation, we have provided you with the process and story ‘behind’ the buddy bench. Enjoy the photos too that support the story.

This is how Nikki helped us to design and paint our school’s amazing and creative ‘buddy’ bench.

Firstly, Nikki supported us as we formed small groups to work on a design. Each group managed to come up with a design or designs for the bench.

Nikki then collated all the designs and picked something from each group. Then she presented us with a couple of options. Next, we voted on which design we wanted to put on the bench.

The bench was then prepped, and the students drew the design onto it. It was a work in progress for a bit, as some things didn’t work, or we just didn’t like it once it was on the bench.

Following some brainstorming and discussions, a final design was eventually decided.

And here is where the story of the ‘buddy bench’ begins……

In the middle of the seat, is the dual emoji, half sad and half happy. On the left side is sadness and loneliness.

There are two circles, one “western and one Aboriginal.”

The western circle has a broken heart with a band aid on it, there is rain and lightning and a sad flower and the Aboriginal one, has a cut snake which represents an unhappy situation.

The diamond pattern on the snake indicates something is wrong and the small circle of black dots, represents a scary situation. The small, spoked circle at the top, is the symbol for food and little food, means a bad situation.

On the right side, are two circles depicting healing and happiness. The western circle has the helping hands and the ‘coming together’ symbols, as everyone needs a helping hand sometimes which we hope the bench will bring kids together.

The Aboriginal circle contains a group of initiated elders within a ceremonial ground surrounded by the rest of the community. It represents respect for one another and supporting and helping each other.

There are hearts all around the seat to represent our school’s motto “In all things love” and on the first slat, are people joined together, the students’ hand in hand.

The back of the bench has a sunrise as it represents hope and positivity; with every new sunrise, comes a new day, full of hope and opportunity; this bleeds into a rainbow which represents joy and better times ahead.

Above this, is the Rainbow Serpent which is one of Nikki’s major creative ancestors in the story from her mob.

“The serpent leaves Earth and forms the Milky Way which is where Niki believes they go when they pass, and all of the stars are the campfires of her ancestors.”

The serpent is flanked by two crosses, one on each side, the Catholic symbol for our creator, God.

Beneath the crosses are lizards as they are one creature that is found everywhere in Australia; they are survivors and very adaptable, something we all need to make our school a better place.

The arms of the bench have a western arm (on the left) and an Aboriginal arm (on the right) and both are about our connection to nature or the land because the bench will be put in garden.

The legs have flowers and are bright and colourful, they have ants and ladybugs for a bit of whimsy.

As we all worked collaboratively on the bench, we wanted it to be welcoming, warm and cheerful.

We hope that our school’s beautiful Aboriginal and contemporary art piece will be used, when and if there is a need, and that it helps to bring students together.

We hope that those children who feel a little blue, will use the bench to seek help, be adaptable, seek change and thrive, and that other children in the school community, are always willing to offer their hand of friendship, and compassion.

We are grateful to have been part of creating our school’s new ‘buddy bench,’ with Nikki.

Not only will this bright and colourful bench put a smile on our face and brighten our day whenever we see it, we also pray and hope that it will be used in a loving and respectful way for those children who need a ‘friend.’

This is the inscription engraved on our buddy bench.