The team, Nic Mulligan, Whitney Duffy, Maddi Collits and Jessy-lea Byrnes, competed in the state final of the NAIDOC debating competition at Sydney Parliament House on Monday, November 22.

After winning the Lachlan and regional debating competitions, the Forbes High team were up against the best of the best in the state final.

The topic on the day was ‘All sacred lands should be handed back to their traditional owners’.

In the first final round, the Forbes team faced off against Ulladulla High School with the negative argument and won that debate.

Forbes High was one of the top two point scoring teams, so went through to the final against Coolamon Central School.

Once again, they were given the negative side of the debate and unfortunately lost.

Team member Maddi Collits said it was a difficult topic, especially as the negative team.

“It was hard but our case was that we should share the lands, not just give back to one group,” she said.

“We focussed on the positives.”

Forbes High’s debating team coordinator Andrew Swan said the school was proud of all four students.

“They were really good sports and were applauding the other schools,” he said.

“They were good representatives of Forbes High - they demonstrated good sportsmanship and academics.”

Mr Swan said the students now have their eyes on the prize for next year and are keen to reclaim their trophy, having won the state final last year.

“They hope to get their trophy back next year, back where it belongs,” he said.

RIGHT: Forbes High School’s NAIDOC debating team Whitney Duffy, Nic Mulligan and Maddi Collits. Absent was Jessy-lea Byrnes. 1115naidocteam(3)