This Term, the Wilson Campus has learnt a lot about Australian Indigenous culture. In one House meeting, we learnt about Rod and Mysie Schenk, who were missionaries who shared the gospel with Aboriginal people in Western Australia. We learnt about David Unaipaon, a Christian Aboriginal man on our $50 note who was an inventor, author, and preacher. Across the school, we also studied the Aboriginal culture in our classes.
In Year 2, we talked about the Dreamtime stories and the importance of missionaries who share the gospel. We read a story about how birds got their colours and made a collage bird, made up of many different colours.
In Year 2/3, we read a book in the Noongar language, Nganyang Moort, which means “My family”. Each page has an Australian animal that introduces itself and describes what it likes to do with a family member. For example, the turtle loves swimming with his uncle. The book included a key so that we could translate most of the words into English. Each reading group had a copy of the book and we coloured the pictures and wrote the English translation under the Noongar words. We are very proud of our beautiful books!
In Year 4, we decorated didgeridoos, using dots and symbols. We learnt about the colours of the Aboriginal flag and what they represent. We also talked about the Dreamtime and read some stories together.
In Year 6, we talked about the ‘Stolen Generation’ and watched the movie, The Rabbit Proof Fence. We discussed the apology made by Kevin Rudd in 2008 and what it meant for Aboriginal people. We used chalks to create an Australian landscape and painted dots to create Aboriginal symbols. For our assembly, we learnt a worship song in Noongar, taught some Noongar words and weaved some headbands out of the colours that make up the Aboriginal flag; red, yellow and black. Some words we learnt were kaat (head), koongat (shoulders), bonitj (knees), djen (toes), yongka (kangaroo), koorlongka (children), kaya (hello) and yira yakiny (stand tall).
We enjoyed learning Noongar words, our craft activities and singing. We learnt a lot!
Mrs Fairbairn
YEAR 6 TEACHER
