Red Earth Trip

At the end of Term 3, a group of 23 students had the amazing opportunity to visit two Aboriginal homelands in the Northern Territory. The trip started with two long days of travel that included a wonderful croc tour, bus karaoke and stunning views before we arrived at the first homeland, Bigedi.  We stayed in Bigedi for the next 3 days, which brought us the experiences of lessons on Aboriginal practices such as bush medicine and bush tucker. We also had lessons on weaving and got to have a relaxing swim in the river each day. A highlight was connecting with the local community and even having a bush disco together. We were able to complete some community projects, including concreting a pool, which was very rewarding work. 

On Day 6 we said a bittersweet goodbye and embarked on our journey to the next homeland. We got a surprise invitation to visit the local school which included a very fun game of dodgeball. Arriving at Barrapunta (Emu Springs), the second homeland, we were greeted with a thunderstorm making our Welcome to Country special. Our days in Barrapunta included activities of collecting pandanus leaves for weaving, dye hunting and cooking kangaroo tail. We also hung out with the local community, did some painting and learnt some local language (‘Wolla’: hello and thankyou) . At the start of Day 9, we said our goodbye’s to Barrapunta as we began our journey home. We visited an art centre and learnt some very interesting information about Aboriginal art history and ended the day with a pool swim at Nitmuluk. The next morning we flew out and headed home after 10 days of our culturally enriching immersion. Overall, the trip was an amazing once in a lifetime experience in which all of us gained a deeper understanding of the land around us and ourselves. 

Giang Dang, Madelen Skehan, Alanah Forbes on behalf of the 23 students and 3 teachers (and 2 toilets frogs!)