Due to Covid restrictions the NAIDOC Mass will be different to other years. Each school has been asked to paint a Message Stick which will be used to decorate a special cross. This cross will be a central part of the 2020 Archdiocese NAIDOC Mass.

Traditionally, Message Sticks were passed between different clans and language groups to establish information and transmit messages. They were often used to invite neighbouring groups to corroborees, initiation ceremonies, right of entry to country and invitation to religious rituals.

NSW and ACT schools have been asked to decorate a message stick. At St Joseph’s, Leanne Turnbull has kindly decorated our message stick for inclusion on the NAIDOC Cross. Adelong means ‘along the way’. The message on the stick represents family groups travelling to traditional meeting places in the mountains and resting along the way in Adelong