GEKA Sacred Heart

Welcome to Country

Carol Vassiliou, Early Childhood Teacher

Working over two services and different age groups, the acknowledgement of our Indigenous heritage is practised and delivered in various ways. Although different, the outcomes are the same; to explore the history and cultures of the traditional custodians of the land before us, and to include their perspectives authentically into the curriculum.

As educators, we consider the children’s levels of understanding when exploring Indigenous practices such as the Acknowledgement of Country.  Working with younger ages in the Yellow Group, more visual learning is preferable.  

The book “Welcome to Country” by Elder, Aunty Joy Murphy, explains the concept of welcoming ceremonies and their significance to Aboriginal communities across Australia in simple and clear ways. This visually descriptive and colourful book, tells a story for itself and the language is easy to understand. To extend on this, we have the ‘Bunjil and Waa’ props (spiritual characters from the story) readily available to use and tell this simple symbolic story of two birds, Bunji an eagle and Waa a crow, and how Bunji helped Waa for their long travels to their homes.

Finally, in discussion with the children, it was interesting to gauge what their understanding of what it means to look after our land. Some interpretations from the children were;

Brandon-“Water the plants”

Xavier.T- “Daddy waters our plants”

Xavier. K- “Put our rubbish in the bin”

Madeleine-“Feed the animals”.

There isn’t one best or correct way to do honour history, but ensuring you recognise those that have come before you is important, 

and continues the story for future generations to come.