Brewarrina Immersion

On Monday, 3rd June, 2019, the VCAL students left to go on the yearly Brewarrina Immersion. After a 12- hour bus trip we arrived at Beds on Barwon where we spent three nights. Monday night we sat around the camp fire, talking to Morris, who welcomed us onto his Country.

Tuesday and Wednesday involved going to St. Patrick’s Public School, where we were involved with the school’s community. Some of us helped build a sensory garden where the kids can calm down and stimulate their senses, others painted lines for them to play handball and sorted out cans. For the past seven years St. Joe’s has left something behind for St. Patrick’s to utilise so this time to be part of that made it feel special when we have put smiles on all their faces and left a positive impact. We were welcomed into the classroom to help with reading, craft and during recess and lunch we all were immersed into play time.

The way the St. Patrick’s school community spoke and treated their school culture made the environment respectful, inviting and friendly. Some VCAL kids went to the kinder where they instantly connected with the young kids.

When Thursday came around the kids didn’t want us to go. We were there for a short goodbye.  The teachers were grateful for our efforts during the week. Each year the school becomes a brighter place and St. Joseph’s has a bigger connection.

During the Immersion, we visited the oldest man made structure in the world. These are the fish traps. While on a tour in the museum we learnt about the history of the traps, how they were formed by rocks and the process of catching and releasing the fish. We got a tour of the fish traps that lie on the bed of the Barwon River. There was not much water due to a weir wall being built and no water flowing through.

Only twice in the seven years St. Joseph’s has been going to Brewarrina,  have we been taken out to the Mission and the Hospital Creek Massacre site. Driving out to the Mission the majority of us had no idea what we were going to see. I expected to see a lot of evidence of the Mission. What we saw was only signs in place of the buildings that existed. This size of the Mission was 6 acres and there were over 25 Aboriginal tribes were on the Mission.  

Just down the road was Hospital Creek Massacre site where over 400 innocent Aboriginal people were killed, due to a station manager went missing, but he later showed up two weeks later alive.

After leaving Brewarrina we stayed Thursday afternoon and night at Gundabooka National Park. We toured Aboriginal rock art where Phil, the tour leader, explained his knowledge of the art and when different tribes came to the area, they used artworks to show different things. Phil talked to us about how he doesn’t focus on the past, only about focusing on what’s to come in the future.

Each night around the fire we reflected on something we enjoyed, are grateful for or learnt from the day.