Thank you for joining us for the 2025 AMSSA Staff Conference!
It was our pleasure to welcome you to Santa Maria College last week for the AMSSA Staff Conference and we hope you enjoyed a wonderful time of Community, Connection and Celebration with colleagues from across Australia and New Zealand.
We are pleased to share with you an online photo gallery, captured by our College Photographer, Megan Dowling, as well as the video shared in the final Plenary and Blessing. You are welcome to download these photos and use in your own publications, however please note the video is not for online distribution.
Please click here to access the gallery. Password: 3tqN1e21 Pin to download: 2473
To view photos from the Mercy Pilgrimage at Mercedes College, click here
We are also delighted to share resources from a number of keynote and workshop presentations, which have been added to our Sharespace below, along with details of the Mercy Reflection and collaborative artwork for those who may wish to replicate this activity.
Thank you once again for joining us here in Western Australia. Let us continue to build our circle of Mercy into the future.
If you have any queries regarding the conference, please contact the Conference Manager, Rebecca Kinsella:
[email protected]
Wantili (Warntili, Canning Stock Route Well 25)
©Kuru Gladys Bidu/Copyright Agency, 2024
“Wantili is my place, where I was born. It’s a place where everyone was living – it’s all of their ngurra (home). It’s the Jukurrpa (Dreaming) of that place. All those claypans, a place where everyone comes together for ceremony and gatherings, all meeting with different families. I went there with my aunt [Jakayu Biljabu] (dec.) and my sister [Kumpaya Girgirba] – they told me the story of where I was born, in pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) times. We walked all over the place, I was just a little one.”
Wantili, a large round jurnu (soak) and linyji (claypan) near Well 25 on the Canning Stock Route. The area is dominated by claypans surrounded by tuwa (sandhills). Nyilangkurr, a prominent yapu (hill) is located on the edge of the claypan. Following rains the typically dry claypans are filled with water, with the overflow from nearby waterholes flowing to Wantili. At that time, Wantili becomes an important place for obtaining fresh water for drinking and bathing. Wantili is significant for the fact that at this site Kartujarra, Manyjilyjarra, Putijarra and Warnman people would all come together for ceremonies during the pujiman (traditional, desert dwelling) era. Many jiwa (stones used by women for grinding seeds) from these times can still be found there today.
Find out more about Gladys Kuru Bidu and Martumili here
Santa Maria College acknowledges that the land we live and work on is Whadjuk country and that the Whadjuk Noongar people are the traditional owners and custodians who have a rich social, spiritual, and historical connection to this country, which is as strong today as it was in the past.