The Leavers Jacket might be a tradition dating back decades but there’s something very new about La Salle College’s latest sartorial offering. For the first time in the College’s history La Salle’s leavers will be donning jackets incorporating First Nations artwork.
21 Aug 2026
La Salle’s leavers jackets prove its never too late to try something new
In 2025, the then Year 11s designed their Class of 2026 Leavers Jacket incorporating First Nations artwork into the jacket.
The artwork appears on the back of the Leavers Jacket and was created by students with the help of Ms Farmer, the College’s Aboriginal Liaison Officer.
Ms Farmer taught the students traditional Aboriginal artwork techniques, passed on to her from Aboriginal Elders.
Through this process, students embraced a new
way of learning and demonstrated flexibility by being open to exploring artistic traditions and perspectives different from their own.
The creative arts experience highlighted the importance of connection to culture and how First Nations peoples pass on knowledge across generations.
The students decided to use the eight La Salle College House colours as the base of the background of the design. The lines in the background are connected to Noongar culture, as dots are not typically used in the region Ms Farmer is from.
The art design features stories of the land making it resonate with our First Nations history.
The painting represents the journey of high school at La Salle College, each feature circle representing a meeting place and a key highlight from Years 7–12, with the footsteps connecting the students together and symbolising growth, change and the flexibility required to navigate the many experiences that shape students throughout their time at the College.
Year 12 student, Mirabella said:
“For the Leaver’s Jacket, I helped paint majority of the artwork, such as the house colours, used for the base of the artwork and Indigenous symbols shown within the artwork.
“The icons in each of the black circles represent each year level, starting with Year 7 experience and finishing in Year 12, where we are journeying on our own paths.
“The project took months of work, but the finished artwork is special, meaningful and rewarding to look at.”
