Published on: 27 July 2023








Year 11 Christ Church and St Mary’s students recently returned from a Service in Action (SIA) tour in Looma, a remote Aboriginal community 120 kilometres south-east of Derby.

As teachers’ aids, the students helped children with reading, writing, maths and art activities. In the playground, they facilitated and joined in games and sports matches. The students were offered rich cultural experiences, such as observing ancient rock art, catching yabbies and cooling off at a local watering hole.

Christ Church has a longstanding relationship with Looma Community School, having visited on SIA tours for a number of years. What made this year’s tour to Looma particularly exciting was that Christ Church Old Boy Angus Minear (’17) is now a teacher of Years 3 and 4 at the school.

In 2016, Angus went to Looma on an SIA trip with his peers. This experience instilled in Angus a fascination with Aboriginal culture and language and inspired him to pursue a career in teaching. In his recent interview with ABC Kimberley, Angus encouraged young teachers to live and work in a remote community if given the opportunity.

What Angus’ experience highlights is that integrating service into every boy’s journey at Christ Church can have a lasting and meaningful impact on their life after school.

Director of Service in Action, Mark Tait, commented “It was fantastic to see a Christ Church Old Boy teaching at the same school years after his own SIA experience in Looma. We are thrilled to hear that Angus is an active member of the local community and is flourishing in his role as a primary school teacher.”

You can listen to the full ABC interview here.