5IW Aboriginal Incursion

To celebrate the upcoming NAIDOC week, we had an Aboriginal incursion, held by Muru Mittigar. Every day a different grade went to participate in the activities where we learnt Aboriginal culture, histories and perspectives.

The day started with a smoking ceremony, which the Aboriginals traditionally believe could cleanse the bad spirits from the body and soul. It was enjoyable and made us think deeply about the Aboriginal culture and their important practices.

The first activity was art, where we learnt about Aboriginal symbols and art styles and how traditionally Aboriginals communicated via rock art. We then created our own dreamtime story. We all loved how we could manipulate and create an entirely new story just from a few symbols.

The next activity was boomerang throwing. We threw boomerangs and learnt how they worked. We enjoyed throwing them as we could learn the aerodynamics of the boomerang when it came back to hit the prey. The teachers also got to have a go!

We also learnt about Aboriginal artefacts. We learnt how the Aboriginals traditionally hunted and how they used tools to find food and create things to use in their everyday lives. We got to touch and feel a variety of tools such as woomeras.

Finally, we learnt about bush tucker and how the Aboriginal people traditionally used plants and animals for eating, drinking and healing. The fauna and flora we saw had many interesting capabilities, like the lemon myrtle, which could heal sore throats.

Overall, the experience was very enjoyable and informative. We learnt a lot about Aboriginal culture and why we should work to protect it.

Many thanks for coming Muru Mittigar!

Eurus Li, Alex Ouyang & Oscar Devey

5IW