Royal Life Saving WA's Travis Doye, Reconciliation Action Plan Committee member Donna Oxenham and Dennis Simmons from Maar Koodjal

Royal Life Saving gets set to celebrate Reconciliation Week

As we get ready to celebrate National Reconciliation Week, Royal Life Saving WA staff got together for a special educational lunch and celebration this Monday. National Reconciliation Week is a time for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. This year it runs from 27th May to 3rd June.

As part of our pre-reconciliation week celebration staff received a welcome to country by Dennis Simmons from Maar Koodjal, while Donna Oxenham, a member of our Reconciliation Action Plan committee, presented her research on the Whadjuk Nyungar relationships to country surrounding the Mount Claremont region where our offices lay. We will be sharing more of this history throughout Reconciliation Week, so stay tuned to read more!

Following the more formal part of the event staff then enjoyed catering provided by Gather Foods, which is a majority owned Aboriginal Food Services business, providing a range of integrated services from retail, food supply, food manufacturing, bush foods to catering. They also provide hospitality management, event management, hampers & gifts, native food wholesale, grazing tables and Indigenous events & catering services. If you’d like to check out their products you can purchase them from Black Pig Deli & Co in Inglewood.

Staff enjoyed tasting these traditional bush foods, and learning more about the lands on which we work. We look forward to sharing more about our reconciliation journey and the ways in which Royal Life Saving is providing opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to learn vital swimming, water safety and aquatic employment skills throughout the upcoming Reconciliation Week.