WORLD CULTURES

FASCINATING INDONESIA

This term in World Cultures, classes have been exploring our neighbouring country of Indonesia. Firstly, we looked at where Indonesia is on a map and explored the island of Bali on Google Earth. We learnt that the Indonesian flag consists of two colours – red (merah) representing courage and white (putih) representing unity. Some interesting facts we learnt about Indonesia are the following:

• The capital city of Indonesia is called Jakarta 
• Their population is 285.7 million (compared to Australia which has 26.9 million people)
• The climate is hot, humid and tropical
• There are over 17,000 islands! (a group of islands is called an archipelago) 
• There are a lot of active and inactive volcanos and it is located on the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’

BATIK FABRIC ART

During weeks 3 and 4, classes were introduced to Batik fabric art. Batik is a traditional technique of resistance painting. To create Batik art, melted wax is drawn onto fabric using a tool called a Tjanting to prevent certain areas of fabric from being coloured. The fabric is then dyed and the hardened wax melted off in hot water. Sometimes this method is repeated multiple times to create colourful patterns.

Castle and Holly students watched some traditional methods of creating the beautiful fabric, while Stillwell students learnt about the impact of traditional and Indigenous artwork in both Australia and Indonesia inspiring modern fashion design. 

Castle students coloured in Batik designs which have been turned into bookmarks. Holly classes made wax-resist artwork by tracing a chosen design onto paper using white crayons and painting these with watercolour paint. Our Stillwell students used coloured glue to trace their designs onto white fabric. They then painted over these with acrylic paints. Mrs Mawson took these and placed them in salted boiling water to melt off the glue, revealing the white lines beneath.

BOOK WEEK

During Book Week, students learnt the Indonesian Folklore of ‘Sang Kancil and the Crocodiles’.

Sang Kancil is a little mouse deer who wants to cross the river to eat some delicious water apples. She has to come up with a cunning idea to cross the crocodile-infested waters. Sang Kancil tells the crocodiles that the King is hosting a large party and needs to know how many crocodiles are coming in order to prepare for the feast. The foolish crocodiles line up so that Sang Kancil can jump onto their backs and count them, one by one. Once she gets to the other side, Sang Kancil laughs at the now angry crocodiles for falling or her trick. 

Classes reflected on the moral of the story and suggested the following:

• Never trust someone without checking for more information first
• You can be small but still be clever
• Don’t act before you think (or you might get hurt)
• You shouldn’t be greedy
• Use Persistence and you can get what you want
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Students then enjoyed making their own crocodiles using green paper, scissors, and googly eyes. Some students even retold the story using their crocodiles and some other props.

INDONESIAN DANCE

This week we have been learning about Indonesian music and instruments and a special Indonesian dance called the ‘Saman Dance’. We are so lucky to have Mrs Kemp (a former Indonesian teacher) help teach the Holly and Stillwell classes the ‘wave dance’ section of this incredible performance. Students will practice this again next week. Castle students have been dancing to ‘Kepala Pundak Lutut Kaki”, otherwise known as ‘Heads Shoulders Knees and Toes’, learning the Indonesian language for body parts in the process.

I am so impressed by the Curiosity and Persistence shown during our lessons this Term. Students have really embraced learning about the Indonesian culture and have created some beautiful artwork in the process.

Lauren Mawson

World Cultures Teacher