Classroom Insights

Yarning Conference 

 by Jo C and Otis W

On the 20th of October, twenty lucky Grade 5 students took a bus to Bundoora Park Farm to participate in the 2026 Yarning Conference. They participated in several activities, a walk around the farm stopping at a range of stations, and created a school poem. It was great fun and very worthwhile. We all learned very interesting things and expanded our knowledge on the subject.

Prior to the Conference we completed learning activities that helped us to understand what Treaty is and why it’s important and the benefits of truth-telling. We kept poetry journals reflecting on our learnings and then made posters. 

When we hopped off the bus at Bundoora Park Farm, we were greeted by two very nice guides. They took us and our class to the open-air shed in the middle of the farm and we all sat down on the fake grass. Eighteen schools slowly trudged into the shed and then we began.

We went to our station after eating a snack. The activities there were amazing - we even threw traditional First Nations weapons at a target. From what we saw, we need to practice our aim!  We also played a kind of keepy uppy with a bunch of emu feathers tied together with wax called warlpiri. Once we had finished at our station all of the schools walked back to the shed to have lunch.

After lunch we grabbed our posters and marched around the farm; there were several stations to visit. One was meeting Travis and Renata Lovett and asking questions about the walk for truth. At another, we read out our shared Bell poem that was made from our poetry journals. The final one was a smoking ceremony where we listened to stories about truth-telling. 

At the end, all of our posters were collected to go on display at the Preston Library. We had an incredible time and can’t wait to hear what next year’s Grade 5s learn!