Reconciliation Week

Reconciliation Australia asks us to consider the following:

Reconciliation must live in the hearts, minds and actions of all Australians as we move forward, creating a nation strengthened by respectful relationships between the wider Australian community, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

We all have a role to play when it comes to reconciliation, and in playing our part we collectively build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, histories, cultures, and futures.

This week, Janine Turner, our Arrernte teacher, with support from her family, shared many aspects of her culture with all the students from Primary and Middle school. The children were actively involved in making Arrethe Bush Medicine, Artetye Terurre, Mulga wood Clap Sticks, and Inernte Bracelets, all the while singing in Arrernte and practising new words. I hope you heard all about it and saw the treasures they all brought home from their hard work.

On Monday, each class group session started with the children being smoked with Arrethe, the Rock Fuchsia, that Janine and family had collected from her homeland, Sandy Bore. The smoke from this smouldering herb is said to be good for the mind, body and spirit. Then it was all hands on deck as the leaves were pulled from the freshly picked plants, ground into a paste, cooked in olive oil and beeswax and dispensed into small containers. The rubbing medicine can be applied externally on cuts, bites, aching muscles as well as used as a chest and throat rub.

Tuesday was busy sanding, filing, cleaning and smoothing Artetye Terurre, Mulga wood clap sticks, before branding them with hot wires from the fire. Again, this was a whole school effort with age appropriate activities. The end result is a set of 24 beautifully decorated Terurre, Clap Sticks, that can be used in Arrernte and music lessons.

On Wednesday, we all learned how difficult and time consuming it is to burn holes in Inernte, Bean Tree seeds, in order to make decorative jewellery. We watched in awe, as one of Janine’s family members patiently holed all the seeds they had collected. The older grades joined in, gaining a new appreciation of the scale of the task, while the younger children threaded enough bracelets for everyone. 

Thursday’s and Friday’s cooking activities were postponed as we enjoyed the desert rain instead. We will continue these activities next week, as part of our usual Arrernte lessons routine, with Merne tampe, Damper making was on Wednesday this week and Kere, Kangaroo Tail cooking was on Friday this week. 

A huge thank you to Janine and all her family that participated in the preparation and running of these events. As I witnessed relationships develop with familiarity, and genuine interest grow in the children, I also noticed Janine’s confidence build as children re-told her and each other, what they had seen, heard, made and learned. 

I think this is a great step towards collectively building relationships and communities that value First Nations people, histories, culture and futures.

Megan x