North Queensland Outreach

In 2007 Macarthur began a new Outreach Programme for Year 6 students which links our students with children in Northern Queensland. This programme is an initiative pioneered with Macarthur by Bishop Arthur Malcolm, the first indigenous Anglican Bishop in Australia.

During the seven day visit to Cairns, Cooktown and the Daintree, the students visit two aboriginal settlements, Hope Vale near Cooktown and Yarrabah near Cairns, where they had the opportunity to share a range of experiences with children their own age.


As part of their visit the Year 6 students are permitted to visit an aboriginal site with one of its traditional owners who showed them the rock art and carvings in the area and spoke to them of the use of the bush by aboriginal people.

The children returned to Macarthur with a broader vision of life in Australia and an appreciation of the differences between life on the aboriginal settlements and their lives.

It is hoped that there will be reciprocal visits by the children of these settlements in the future.