Inspired by this year's NAIDOC Week theme, "50 Years of Deadly," our children came together to create one meaningful artwork that represents the power of community, connection and belonging.

From the very beginning, this was the children's project. They decided they wanted to create one mosaic together, where every child could leave their mark. Working side by side, they carefully helped hammer and shape the mosaic tiles before thoughtfully placing each piece, knowing that every contribution was important in creating something beautiful as a whole.

The children proudly chose to create the words "NAIDOC" and "50 Years of Deadly," wanting their own voices and hands to become part of this lasting piece. They also chose to include the Aboriginal Flag, Torres Strait Islander Flag and Australian Flag, bringing them together to represent respect, unity and our shared community.

Every tile tells a story. Every piece was placed by our Villa children. Together, they created more than a mosaic, they created a symbol of belonging. Proudly displayed at the entrance of Villa Bambini, this artwork reflects the children's understanding that when everyone contributes, every voice matters, every person belongs, and together we create something stronger than we ever could alone.

To celebrate NAIDOC Week, our centre hosted a special community event called Yarn and Gather, inviting families and local community members to join us. Together, we co-created a large-scale, collaborative artwork titled: "50 Little Hands Celebrating 50 Years of Deadly".

Each child, family member and visitor decorated their own individual handprint before adding it to a large circle canvas. We worked collaboratively to frame the piece with beautiful pieces of nature symbolising connection to Country, and one of our children proudly hand wrote the title directly onto the artwork.

When we asked our little people what does "deadly" mean? They shared words like awesome, amazing, fantastic evening using the word dhirrabuu (Gamilaraay word). Our artwork embodies the 50 year milestone, demonstrating perfectly that community is strongest when we stand together.

Displaying the artwork in our foyer over the past week has served as a powerful, daily reminder of our deep respect for First Nations history. It honours fifty years of the NAIDOC movement and highlights how the passing down of culture connects one proud generation to the next.

Since its completion, our foyer has transformed into a space of rich conversation and immense pride. Children frequently stop with their families to point out their specific handprints or other favourites, showcasing beautiful ownership over their work. Furthermore, the display has acted as a natural conversation starter, prompting families to engage in meaningful dialogue about the artwork’s deeper meaning and exactly why it was created.

These little people are part of the next generation and we hope they are a vital part of NAIDOC celebrations for the next 50 years and more walking together hand in hand with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Culture is everyone’s business, and our artwork
proves that even our littlest community members can make a truly deadly impact when we work together.

Our artwork is a collaborative creation by our Kindergarten children at C&K Robinson Road Childcare Centre, inspired by this year's NAIDOC Week theme, '50 Years Deadly'. Rather than focusing solely on the finished piece, we wanted our artwork to reflect the journey of learning, listening, exploring and connecting that took place over many weeks. We began by exploring NAIDOC Week posters from across the decades, inviting children to observe, wonder and share what they could see. These conversations naturally led into meaningful discussions about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, cultures and histories, ways we can care for Country and how to respect one another. The children then engaged in a wide range of experiences inspired by these conversations.

They investigated the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags by deconstructing their colours, shapes and meanings and experimented with weaving through the Sea of Fish challenge with Connecting the Dots. Children also crafted weather pictures, searched our outdoor environment for loose parts during nature hunts and carefully observed bugs they regularly discover in our centre garden. Exploring Torres Strait Islander symbols by stamping them into playdough, listening to The 10 Scared Fish by Ros Moriarty, investigated shells through sensory play and using our light table to create stars while learning about Aboriginal astronomy were a few other learning highlights.

Our final artwork also includes splatter and spinner art reflecting this year’s vibrant NAIDOC poster, loose parts portraits celebrating that we are all unique, loose parts designs inspired by Aboriginal art, campfire creations that reflect the family camping experiences shared by our children and glitter handprints acknowledging our educators’ experiences walking on Butchulla Country on K’gari, where we learnt about the beautiful tradition of creating sand art. A significant feature of our learning journey was creating 50 painted leaves to acknowledge 50 Deadly Years. While four leaves have been incorporated into the artwork itself, all 50 leaves were displayed together on a tree within our learning environment, serving as a visual reminder of our ongoing reflections, conversations and growing understanding throughout NAIDOC Week and beyond.