Ten Gunnedah High School Clontarf academy students are in for the trip of a lifetime with an all-expenses-paid trip to Darwin for the 2024 V8 Supercars national indigenous round.

The academy won an art competition for the indigenous round in the V8 supercar with the prize including 3-4 nights accommodation, tickets to the race and an on-track experience as well as participating in the weekend’s activities.

All Clontarf academies in Australia had the opportunity to enter an artwork for the competition and design it to fit the brief, which consisted of creating a story for the artwork using the colours of the Ampol/Redbull team (red/white/blue).

The artwork will be printed on the Ampol/Redbull team car, driver and crew team gear, as well as team merchandise.

Dan Ellis works for Clontarf and helped the boys create the artwork which represents a story of “the journey of the driver”.

“The centre circles with U shapes is a meeting place symbol, the U shapes are the symbol for a person, this represents the driver and the extended crew, working together as one,” he said.

“The four corners with striped dots represent the many roads or tracks the driver races on throughout their career.”

The Clontarf Foundation exists for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to help equip them to participate meaningfully in society.

Since opening its first academy for 25 boys in 2000, the foundation has grown to cater for 6500 boys in 149 schools across Western Australia, Northern Territory, Victoria, NSW, and Queensland. The foundation believes that failure to experience achievement when young, coupled with a position of under-privilege can lead to alienation, anger, and more serious consequences.

The Clontarf Academy in Gunnedah started this year and has about 90 boys involved.

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