Molesworth Street Kindergarten

From Audrey, Rachel, Amy and Sakoon, Early Childhood teachers

Aboriginal Cultural Incursion with the Little Wombats Program

At Molesworth Street Kindergarten, our programs are intentionally rich in indigenous resources and each morning we acknowledge the traditional owners of the land that we love, learn and play on. 

The children promise to care for the plants, animals and people, just as the Wurundjeri people of our area, have done for so long. 

Last week on March 27th,  the Grass Parrot and Rosella groups (both groups of mixed 3 and 4-year-olds) were visited by Cameron from the Little Wombats Program.  Cameron is a proud Wotjobaluk man.  Wotjobaluk country is in Western Victoria, and includes the town that we know as Horsham.

The children were excited to see Cameron introduce to us several bird puppets, each of which he taught us the names in his Wergaia language.  We said Dulk (hello) to each bird.   

Next Cameron showed us his yidaki (didgeridoo) and explained that it was made from a log hollowed out by termites.  We listened for the sounds of different animals that he was able to make with the yidaki. Then we all got to dance and move as each animal, while Cameron played their sounds.

Finally our fine motor skills were exercised as we coloured and made patterns on artworks that Cameron had produced of the animals that we had talked about during the session.

We will continue to use this experience to build the children’s understanding of the richness of Aboriginal culture, in particular with respect to care for country and animals. 

We appreciate that the Little Wombat Program has allowed our children to learn directly from a local indigenous person.