Year 12 Sociology Excursion

On the 18th of March, our Year 12 Sociology students visited the Koorie Heritage Trust at Federation Square to study the customs and cultures of the Kulin Aboriginal Nations. Whilst there, our students studied a collection of precious Aboriginal artefacts carefully preserved by the Koorie Heritage Trust, displayed to raise public awareness of Aboriginal culture among the greater community. Our students were also given the opportunity to explore the Birrarung Marr with an Indigenous tour guide, who shared with our students the cultural significance of the area as a traditional Aboriginal gathering place for the five Kulin nations, as well as the art installations placed there to commemorate the cultural practices of the traditional custodians of greater Melbourne.

Afterward, our students were welcomed to handle and learn about Indigenous artefacts that are culturally significant to the Indigenous community, including the coming-of-age rites passed down to Indigenous youth through possum-skin cloaks, the possum-pelt balls used to play marn-grook, a traditional Indigenous sport, and the hunting tools used by Indigenous Peoples. 

Our school would like to thank the Koorie Heritage Trust for sharing its customs and culture with the students of Tarneit Senior College, and we’d like to congratulate our Year 12 students on representing the school so well on such a special day. It was excellent to see our students have so much fun and learn so much about raising awareness of Australian Aboriginal cultural practices.

-Ash Sevior (Sociology Teacher)