Indigenous Education
Bedtime Stories
This week we have been engaging with a week of 'Bedtime Stories' from First Nations cultures. The non for profit organisation 'Common Ground' created these short videos of Indigenous peoples story telling short stories that tell us about how the world became to be as well as a range of different themes that include our school values of Respect, Responsibility and Resilience.
On Monday we listened to the story of the Butu Wugun (Black Crow) and the Wilbung (Magpie), who were having a fight over who was the strongest. The birds didn't realise how close they were and fell into a fire. The Wilbung climed out first and all the other animals poured water over his body. The Butu Wugun climbed out a little while after as he was very tired. This story tells us that the Wilbung came to be black and white because he had water poured over him straight away and the crow is Butu Wugun because his body had burned for longer.
On Tuesday we listened to the story of 'Star dreaming'. This story told us about the different constellations in the sky and when there is certain animals in the sky, First Nations peoples know when they can gather certain foods. One of the more important constellations is the emu. When the emu is laying down, the emu is laying eggs. When the emu is standing up and looking like it is running, it is trying to find a mate.
On Wednesday we listened to the story of 'The Rainbow Serpent'. The Rainbow Serpent has lots of different colours all over it. The Rainbow Serpent is believed to be the creator of rivers, mountains, gorges and more. Some still say the Rainbow Serpent is still in the sky, taking a long sleep.
On Thursday we listened to the story of 'Why the kookaburra laughs', this story tells us about how the kookaburra wakes the sky people to give us the sun, and why you should never laugh at a kookaburra.
On Friday we listened to the story of 'Tiddalick the frog'. This story tells us The importance of our environment and the preciousness of our water resources. The value of our Elders and the importance of listening to those whose life experiences can help us make good decisions.
Over the week we did a range of different activities that helped us make meaning of the themes and ideas that were in the story. We explored Indigenous maps and words as well as creating a range of art pieces. Older students had 'Yarns' and discussions abotu the videos and how they relate to our lives.
