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Stories & Feature Articles

The road to Badjaling

Rev Dr Alison Longworth, retired Uniting Church WA Minister, shares her experience of revisiting Badjaling, while traveling from Perth to Quairading to lead worship.

After the easing of restrictions due to COVID-19, Western Australians were being encouraged to ‘Wander out Yonder’ and I was preparing to travel into the wheatbelt. On the Sunday morning I was committed to lead worship with the Quairading Uniting Church and in the afternoon I had arranged a visit to the Ballardong Noongar community at Badjaling, a few kilometres east of the town.

My connection to Badjaling began in 1987 when I visited the former Mission site with my family. The recently erected memorial plaque acknowledged two missionaries, and the thirty-nine Noongar families who lived on the Reserve near the railway siding from 1930 to 1954. My Great Aunt Mary Belshaw was the founding missionary, hence my initial interest.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Respect, learning and welcoming

When the Uniting Church WA gathers, we often share in a Welcome to Country or an Acknowledgment of Country. Both are significant ways the church can acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the land, but there are some important differences.

A Welcome to Country is only led by Traditional Custodians; whereas an Acknowledgment of Country can be led by anyone, and acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of that place. A Smoking Ceremony is a process of cleansing and healing, which can also take place with a Welcome.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Day of Mourning 2021

On the Sunday before Australia Day, Uniting Church congregations across the country hold worship services to reflect upon and lament the effect of the invasion and colonisation of this nation upon First Peoples.

The observance of a Day of Mourning was endorsed by the 15th Assembly arising from a request of the Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress (UAICC). All Uniting Church in Australia congregations are invited to hold worship services that reflect on the effects of invasion and colonisation on Australia’s First Peoples and our identity as a nation.

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News & Announcements

Wesley College student creates a buzz

Wesley College Year 12 student, Luke de Laeter, has been awarded the prestigious 2020 Beazley Medal: Vocational Education and Training (VET). Wesley College is a Uniting Church WA school in South Perth.

Luke also graduated as the inaugural VET Dux of College in 2020. His Vocational Education Training (VET) pathway included a Certificate III in Beekeeping, Certificate III in Business and a Certificate II in Design and Technology.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Remembering Past Saints at anniversary celebration

On December 13, Dongara Uniting Church celebrated 136 years of the church building.

The Methodist congregation of the 1880s had acted to construct the church on land that was donated in the town centre. The building has been maintained, renovated and repaired at regular intervals in that 136 years, however, the basic structure remains intact, and is a cool and welcoming space in which we gather to worship and celebrate.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Missional work alive and strong in the city

Christine Nicholas, member of Uniting Church in the City, shares two exciting projects the congregation has been passionately involved in, despite the challenges of 2020.

The good news of Jesus Christ calls us to be a missional people – to be caught up in God’s mission in the world.

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Stories & Feature Articles

Deep Listening Festival explores Growing Strong Together

For the past two years, Margaret River Uniting Church has run an annual Deep Listening Festival. The festival invites people to step outside their normal busy schedule to engage, connect and listen. Through a diverse range of speakers, workshop presenters, musicians and artists, the festival is an opportunity to hear wonderful stories, to inspire and enrich people’s understanding of themselves and the community around them.