Language & Culture Program

On Tuesday 25th October, a group of Year 5 students went on an excursion to participate in the 5th Darebin Schools NAIDOC Yarning Conference. This gave students a chance to learn about Indigenous culture and history, directly from local Elders and Indigenous organisations. Students were accompanied by Darren, Georgia and Margaret.

Some of the students were interviewed by Aunty Terri. Shared below, is some feedback from them, as well as from Georgia:

We listened to a lot of people talking about their jobs and what they do to make a change. A lot of it was connected to the NAIDOC theme of ‘Get up, stand up, show up’, which we learned about at school. I really enjoyed listening to people’s stories. We didn’t learn much cos we’re ahead of a lot of other kids, but we did learn some things. Arty (56B)

If I’m being completely honest, there wasn’t that much new stuff to learn because we’d already learned most of it from you. I think it was more for the other school kids there, because they don’t have a good Indigenous Program at their schools, if they have one. I really enjoyed listening to people’s stories, too. I also really liked this choir from Reservoir East that was there, and they sang this song called ‘Get up, stand up, show up’. The planting was really fun as well. Palmie (56B)

Uncle James Williams helped the choir kids with the song. I really enjoyed seeing my cousins and being able to see kids from different schools. Milloo (56B)

I kinda agree with Palmie and we didn’t really learn a lot cos you’ve taught us so much. It was really good to celebrate what we have learned about ‘Get up, stand up, show up’ and to show others what we know about different things. We learned about courage and how to be brave. I liked the smoking ceremony and how we learned how it lifts off your sorrows and the weight off your shoulders. Oliver (56B)

I really liked the natural connection and how we got to listen a lot and how we got to connect with nature. We got to do some planting of Indigenous plants and a smoking ceremony with Aunty Mandy Nicholson from the Djirri Djirri Dancers. Mika (56B)

I really enjoyed the planting. We brought back some of the plants and we could take them home if we wanted to. The instructor’s name was Myrnong Dave and he had some artefacts with him, like a shield and three spears and a kangaroo skin. The kangaroo skin was for a cloak and he showed us how to wear it. Henry (45A)

I really enjoyed the day. We all learnt that there will be a Yoorook Justice Commission that will collect information from the Victorian Aboriginal Community and People, to expose the ‘truth’ of our history. This will then be shared to us all. Mandy Nicholson spoke about keeping their Aboriginal language alive and how this language is connected to the land, reinstating what we learn at school. We got to connect to Country by helping plant out local indigenous plants at Bundoora Park. The students, teachers and I had a fun day and were grateful to know that ‘truth telling’ is being acknowledged and recorded for us to learn more about where we live. Thanks Terri, for all that you do by sharing ‘your truth’ with us. Georgia (ES)