Children’s Day is celebrated across Australia each year on 4 August. The first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day was established in 1988 (the Bicentennial Year in Australia) when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples felt a day was needed to celebrate Aboriginal children, to give them confidence and make them feel special and included.
August 4 was chosen as it was the date historically used to communally celebrate the birthdays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were taken from their families at a young age, without knowing their birthday.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are born into stories of their family, culture, and Country. They carry with them the songlines of their ancestors and culture, passed down by generations. Their Dreaming is part of our history, while their futures are their own to shape.
It is an opportunity for all Australians to show their support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, as well as learn about the crucial impact that culture, family and community play in the life of First Nations children!
The 2023 theme is, ‘Little Voices, Loud Futures‘. Children’s activities here. Activity sheet here.
A resource prepared by the SA UCA Synod to acknowledge National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day developed by Tarlee Leondaris (Covenanting Officer) and Melissa Neumann (Intergenerational Discipleship) from the Mission Resourcing team, Uniting Church in Australia, Synod of South Australia in partnership with Chris Barnett (Intergenerational Ministry – Children & Families, Synod of Victoria and Tasmania).
This resource has been designed for use in worship. We hope it encourages and enables congregations and faith communities to acknowledge National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day which is held on 4th August each year. This resource includes a Welcome to worship, Acknowledgement of Country, Prayer for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and Links to resources, including an activity pack to share with an Aboriginal community or UAICC community that you have connection with.
Images and videos that could be used in worship can be downloaded from here. This resource is available to download here (Special Days and Seasons section)
Welcome to Worship
Welcome to worship at ___________.
Today as part of our worship we are acknowledging National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, held every year on August 4th with the aim of celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. The date 4th August was historically used to communally celebrate the birthdays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were taken from their families at a young age, without knowing their birthday – the Stolen Generations. In 1988, the first National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day was established to celebrate, give confidence to and make Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children feel special and included. We acknowledge this day as a church in covenant with Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC).
Acknowledgment of Country
Use the AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia to find the Nation where you are gathering.
As we gather in this special place, we acknowledge the ___________People as the traditional custodians of this land. We give thanks for their commitment to nurturing this land over many generations. We honour the sacred stories that belong to this land. We pay our respect to Elders past, present and for those emerging who will lead their communities into the future. We commit ourselves to empowering children to continue the journey of reconciliation on this land.
Prayer
Gracious God,
Today we acknowledge the deep hurt experienced by the children and the families of the Stolen Generation. We pray for those who as children suffered terribly from forcible removal from their family and community. We pray for those children who grew up away from their own culture, contributing to the loss of their own sense of self-identity. We recognise that these sufferings cause intergenerational trauma. May Your healing presence be felt by all impacted by this trauma.
Lord, please help our governments and policy makers to learn from past mistakes. We pray for cooperative decision making between governments and First Peoples.
Thank you for the contributions our Aboriginal brothers and sisters make to our shared faith and the direction of the Uniting Church in Australia. Lord, help us to hear the voices of First Peoples and to learn from each other and stand alongside each other.
Help us to celebrate the lives of children as you taught us in scripture “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” Lord, please hear our prayers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. We pray these children learn their culture from Elders. We pray these children grow to be strong leaders in their communities. We pray they grow to feel empowered. We pray they grow to know their voice counts. We pray they always encounter Your grace. Amen.
Worship Prayer Resources: Laments, thanksgiving and petitions
God our loving Creator and Father,
We grieve the time in our history when the impact of white settlement was so disastrous for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that very few children were born and even fewer survived.
We give thanks that that establishment of Christian missions in the past provided a safer – if regimented – environment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents to conceive and raise children.
We grieve
* the cooperation of Christians in the policy of separating Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander children from their families in order that they might blend in to white Australian society, and that even then most people in white Australian society did not accept them as equals
* the trauma the family separation policy inflicted on both parents and children, and that the harmful legacy of this policy is still playing out generations later.
We pray for well-designed initiatives to heal the damage to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and adults caused by past and present injustices. We pray for their success, and that where possible, we might contribute to that success.
We pray especially for present day Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children living in foster care, separated from their families because of welfare concerns. We pray that efforts to improve their family situation will succeed, and that they can reunite with their parents.
We pray for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys and girls from disadvantaged backgrounds who are or have been in touch with the juvenile justice system. We pray for initiatives designed to shift the trajectory of their lives onto a more positive path.
We pray for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents and grandparents trying to raise their children so they can retain positive cultural knowledge and values while also succeeding in mainstream society.
We pray for non-Aboriginal Christians that they will see the image of God in every person, not just in their own children or in people most superficially like themselves.
(Source: Reconciliation Action Plan, Lutheran Church of Australia)
A prayer*
Great and Holy Mystery, known and unknown,
We thank you for the blessing of this day.
We thank you for the blessings of this land: for its great beauty, for the power and the majesty of the land and the waters.
And we thank you especially for the people who live here, for our friends, our families, and our neighbours.
Today we wish to lift up our prayers to you for the children and the youth of our First Nation peoples.
We dare this day to dream for their futures. We dare to dream that their futures will be wonderful. That they will all be able to lead full lives, that they will have a wide variety of good experiences over the course of their lives and grow up to do things that will amaze us and amaze them.
Holy One, pour out your spirit of wisdom upon us. We are looking for guidance, courage, and your healing power to help all of us do everything possible to love, to encourage, to nurture, and at all times to look out for the safety and security of the children and young people who live among us.
We pray for our own children, grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and young siblings that all children and youth in our community may grow up in safety and in friendship together, growing in mutual understanding and mutual support as reconciled peoples.
Lead us, heavenly Spirit, to protect the children and youth and keep them safe from harm, in the loving embrace of a community that seeks to love all, as you so deeply love each and every one of us.
In Jesus’ loving name we pray. Amen
(Source: Prayer adapted from a United Church of Canada resource)
Uncle Archie Roach’s poignant song Took the Children Away tells a very personal story that resonates deeply with the stolen generations. “This story’s right, this story’s true…” (Also ‘From Paradise‘)
Documentary: ‘In my Blood It Runs’ Trailer, and to rent or buy
A powerful portrayal of life as an Aboriginal child. The documentary follows 10 year old Dujuan as he faces the challenges of he encounters at school and within his own community. It is an eye opening experience learning some of the difficulties Aboriginal children experience face reconciling their culture with ‘westernised’ expectations.
