Year 4 News 

On Wednesday the 12th of June, the Year 4 cohort braved the wintery weather for an excursion to the Royal Botanic Gardens. The day was a fantastic opportunity for the students to extend on their learning at school and learn more about our First Nations peoples' connection to country. A particular highlight was meeting Jacobi, an Indigenous man, and basking in his gentle wisdom. The students enjoyed learning about the three main rules in Aboriginal culture; take care of country, water and children. They also loved getting to touch possum furs and greenstone. 

Here are some of the students reflections on the day: 

Rap by Emma S, 4W 

Hi, I'm Emma and I’m here to say, learning about the Aboriginal world is gold, so you should listen carefully to what the generations told. 

Bunjil the eagle, brave as can be, protector of country, people, and sea. 

Jacobi is from the Grampians, Claire is really cool, together they are super champions and they have a river like a pool! 

I hope you enjoyed my rap and together we can make the world more fab.

Facts by Phin H and James B, 4C

Did you know that Aboriginal people used possum fur to keep warm? They made a cape out of the furs. Each year on their birthday they get more possum fur to add to their cape!

Some of the trees in the Botanic Gardens are older than a hundred years old! There was a tree that smelt like hair lice treatment. Yuck!

Did you know that the botanic gardens are over 160 years old?

The Royal Botanic Gardens are on land from the first farm in Australia.

The Botanic Gardens were founded in 1816 and are now the oldest scientific institution in Australia. 

Recount by Ryan H, 4W

Yesterday, we went to the Royal Botanic Gardens for an opportunity to learn outside of school.  Here’s how it happened. 

We left school at 9am and walked to the tram stop. We then got on the tram for half an hour and eventually arrived at the Botanic Gardens. We first ate our recess and then after that, we went to meet our interesting guides, Claire and Jacobi. We learnt a lot about Aboriginal tools because Jacobi was an Aboriginal man from a place called the Grampians. We found out a lot about tools, such as a greenstone axe. 

Next we learnt about the use of weaving to Aboriginal people with Claire and got to practise weaving with raffia. We saw a string made eel trap, which was really cool. We learnt how to use Raffia, an interesting plant from Africa to tie a knot and weave. After we finished our fun session with Claire, we went to have a quick snack before we left. 

Finally, we caught the tram back home. Overall, we enjoyed going to the Botanic Gardens.

Meg Wilkinson

Middle School Leader