Student Wellbeing 

Koorie Club Excursion

On Friday the 31st of August, a small group of Indigenous students at Brookside College called the Koorie Club along with Raj and Sandra from the Student Wellbeing Team went on an excursion to learn about Aboriginal people and culture. We were joined by Michelle Marion, the Koorie Engagement Support Officer who started running the Koorie Club in term two. Hear from two students below about their experience with the Koorie Club excursion.

• What is Koorie Club?

Koorie Club is a group of Indigenous kids at Brookside College learning about their culture in fun ways, including drawing, painting, making damper, and going on this excursion. Before, we didn’t know that there were other Indigenous students at the school, so the Koorie Club brought us all together.

• What we did and what we learnt

For the excursion, we went to the Koorie Heritage Trust at Federation Square to learn about the history of Aboriginal people in Victoria. 

We learnt about the different strategies they would use to get their food. For example, they would use clapping sticks to get the animals’ attention and they used boomerangs to mimic the sound of an eagle so animals such as ducks would stay put on the water. They also used sharp spears for fishing.

They used possum fur for clothing and throughout their lives they would keep layering possum fur as they grew. They used a ball of possum fur to play sport games such as footy. We also learnt that the first Australian cricket team to play in England was a team of thirteen Aboriginal men. If they cut down trees, they were conscious about using the wood for as many purposes as possible, for example cradles for babies, water tanks, canoes, and hunting tools like clubs and spears.

Afterwards, we went down by the Birrarung Marr, which means ‘river of mists’ in Woi-wurrung, the language of the Wurundjeri people. We got to see Aboriginal art installations along the river and experimented with different coloured types of ochre that were used for painting.

• What we enjoyed the most about the excursion

We really enjoyed learning about the different Aboriginal tribes and languages, and what they used to hunt, the history of Aboriginal sport, and how they used possum fur as clothing all year round. Overall, we have really enjoyed Koorie club because we feel more connected to our people and we are proud to be Aboriginal.

-Brooklyn & Latonia