WELLBEING 

Last week our children and staff experienced first hand knowledge and understanding of Dadirri /Da- did-ee/ Inner deep listening and quiet still awareness from Dr Miriam Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM. Excerpts from the recent PIP- Australian Permaculture Magazine will help explain in Miriam’s words Dadirri.

‘I want to talk about a special quality of my people, one I believe to be the most important, and our most unique gift.. In our language , this special quality is called dadirri. It is deep listening and quiet, still awareness. 

There are many Australians who appreciate that Aboriginal people have a special respect for nature……and strong sense of community. All persons matter.

DEEP LISTENING: This is the gift Australia is searching for. It is what you call contemplation. When I experience dadirri, I am whole again. I can sit on the river bank or walk through the trees; even if someone close to me has passed away. I can find peace in this silent awareness. There is no need for words.

LISTEN TO LEARN:In our Aboriginal way we learn to listen from our earliest days.. We could not live good and useful lives if we did not listen. This was the normal way for us to learn. We learnt by watching and listening, waiting then acting.

STILLNESS: The other part of dadirri is the quiet stillness and the waiting. We do not try to hurry things up. We let them follow their natural course- like the seasons. We hope that the people of Australia will wait. Not so much waiting for us- to catch up- but waiting with us, as we find our peace in this world’.

Miriam is a strong advocate for personal wellbeing and throughout the day, whilst painting she spoke about making connections and belonging. The images she painted on the slab of a tree trunk from the Otways were derived from the ideas of our children.

The art piece is specific to Sacred Heart Colac- The School Logo, Family, (Miriam's art symbol of family), Lake Colac (central) Black & White cockatoo (Local Dreaming) and at the base is Red Rock (overlooking Colac).

The message an 8 year old boy heard from Miriam was 

‘Never think that you don’t BELONG here’.