Cultural Education
Wii Gaay Learning Hub
‘Wii Gaay’ means clever child in Gamilaraay Language
Written by Ruby Ricketts
Wii Gaay was a great experience throughout the years. I made lots of friends and memories. I started Wii Gaay in Year 4. On my first camp, I was given a possum skin to draw and write on. I drew things that were important to me. I continued to work on my possum skin at each camp.
I graduated from Wii Gaay last week. I’ve done many Zoom Meeting, crafts and have been around to lots of places. My first Wii Gaay camp was at Coffs Harbour and the last one was at Dubbo. All the kids around the Armidale Diocese come to the Wii Gaay camp every year. Each year, we are asked to work on something. This year, I was asked to interview an elder in my local community. I interviewed a lady called Tracey Towns and she taught me lots of things like where she grew up and how she likes helping in the community. I have finished my documentary on Tracy Towns and will share it with her and our school.
Daisy’s Report
Last Monday Ruby and I boarded one of two buses carrying 25 students and 13 AEA’s from all over the Armidale Diocese and headed towards Dubbo for the last Wii Gaay camp of 2025. The other schools involved came from Glen Innes, Guyra, Armidale, Tamworth, Inverell, Moree, Narrabri, Wee Waa, Walgett.
We participated in many exciting activities over the course of the week including a town tour led by Uncle Lewis. We were shown significant local sights, including scar trees and the Grinding grooves in the rock faces on Terramungamine Reserve.
Dubbo Zoo was a highlight. We fed giraffes and biked from enclosure to enclosure over 5km to see meerkats, lions and more. We also went on a wild safari truck which took us inside one of the enclosures seeing large animals like hippos, zebras and giraffes up close and personal.
We decorated message sticks to bring back to our elders as a gift for passing down their knowledge and added to the children’s possum skins which they have been decorating for the past three years.
The main aim of the trip was for the children to finish their final assignments for the year. The children had to interview an elder in their community, composing questions, working on camera skills, finding locations and then create a documentary. The children worked tirelessly over five separate lessons during the week and were shown how to create their own Movie Magic.
The last night of camp was both a happy and sad experience as Ruby graduated alongside eight other Year Six students that have been together for six camps over the past three years. We all got dolled up, walked the red carpet and got a sneak peak at each child’s work. The graduates were given their possum skins to keep forever as a connection to their experiences on camp because once a Wii Gaay kid always a Wii Gaay kid.
