Scotch College

Tiwi boys make their mark

Tiwi boys make their mark

Scotch College was proud to be able to host two Tiwi Island boys this year as part of our developing relationship with Xavier CEC school on Bathurst Island.

The two boys, Mark Puautjimi and Zachary Pilakui, attended Scotch College for Terms 2 and 3 this year as Cultural Exchange students. They were selected on the basis of leadership potential and outstanding character. Mark and Zachary participated in a wide range of academic, art and design and sporting programs and stayed in School House in the Boarding House.

The aim of the Cultural Exchange program is to provide an opportunity for the boys to learn leadership and healthy lifestyle skills that they can take back to their community on Bathurst Island. Football is an important vehicle for the boys to develop life skills and both boys played with Scotch teams during their stay. In true Tiwi style they brought an element of excitement and unpredictability to the game that thrilled spectators at their games.The boys participated in a Work

Placement every Friday during their stay and this was strongly supported by the Scotch Grounds staff as well as the AFL SportsReady traineeship program.

The success of the program exceeded our expectations with some fantastic cross cultural exchanges happening between the Tiwi boys and our Boarders. The boys have been embraced by the Scotch College football community and have generated a degree of community interest in our football that has not been seen before. The strength of the bonds developed is reflected by the boys request to play for Scotch when we visit Bathurst Island next year and play against their school.

The two boys have been outstanding ambassadors for their school and community and we hope to implement this program on an annual basis.

Special thanks must go to Bruce Abrahams and United KG for sponsoring their airfares. This sponsorship enabled the boys to make a number of return flights home to keep in touch with their families.

We must also thank the Scotch families who had the boys stay with them on weekends and who gave them a taste of Melbourne with visits to various places of interest and took them to AFL games.

The success of their stay at Scotch was due in no small part to the hard work and enthusiasm of Head of School House Chris Appel, Matron Denise Russell and Curator Michael Smith who all put in many extra hours with the boys. Thanks also to Anne Martin, Helen Feutrill and Andrew Argent and his PE staff who developed and managed the boys' daily curriculum.

Dr Robert Smith
TIC Football