On Thursday the 4th of August, students from BDC’s Environment, Goori and Human Rights Groups headed up to Brisbane for the Goodji festival. 

We started the day at 9 o'clock for a very long bus trip, the air was filled with excitement as we headed to our first destination, St John’s Cathedral. We headed on a tour of the beautiful building where we learned the history, heard stories, and learned about how the cathedral makes a positive impact on the community and inspires change in the world. St John’s Cathedral aims to raise awareness surrounding climate change, refugees, homelessness, and so much more. We got to be a part of this change when we folded blankets for the cathedral’s programs ‘rough sleepers’, where homeless people in Brisbane can sleep at the cathedral to ensure they have a roof over their heads.  

We then headed to Mu’ooz Eritrean Restaurant where we had a taste of the beautiful African culture. Mu’ooz is a not-for-profit enterprise and restaurant which aims to give training, work experience, and job opportunities to African refugees. 

After dinner and a good night's sleep, we got ready for the main event…the Goojdi Festival. Held at St Johns's Anglican College, to say we were excited would be an understatement. 

When we arrived, live music, food and activities welcomed us. Over the course of the day, we heard from a lot of people about a lot of topics, climate change, storytelling, permaculture, social ideologies, and more, which sparked questions and interest in the hundreds of people that filled the room. 

Goodji festival was organised and run by the students at the school, it was inspiring to sit and listen to the stories and think of all the ideas we could bring back to BDC. When the clock struck four all of us piled back onto the Barracuda bus to start our journey home. A big thank you to Rev Cooke, Mr Bennett and Mrs Rothacker for organising and supervising this excursion, it was an amazing opportunity and a trip to remember.

Report from Matilda Watson, Service Captain for 2022/2023