As part of my wonderful few months in Brisbane, I had the
pleasure of doing a writing residency at St Peter Chanel in The Gap. During my time there I worked with
the entire student body from Preps to Year 7, and together we created an
anthology of writing titled Where Our
Journey Begins.
Within these pages you will read the passionate,
enthusiastic and engaging words of some very motivated and inspiring students
in the SPC community.
In considering the role of totems in Aboriginal society the
energetic Preps and Year 1’s were asked to choose a totem for their own clan,
their own family. I think parents and siblings might be interested to see what
animal each child chose for their totem to protect the ones they love, and why
they wanted to protect their chosen totem. It was interesting to see that the
black snake and carpet snake were as popular as the koala and the shark!
Years 2 and 3 brainstormed all the ways they could care for
land and the sea, as well as why they should protect and respect the earth. In
sharing their strategies for caring for country, they also explained why they
love living on Turrbul land around The Gap.
Places like Uluru and the Bunya Mountains are known as
sacred sites to Aboriginal people and important cultural heritage, but most of
us have somewhere that is sacred to us on a personal level; a place that holds
fond memories, a space where we feel safe and at peace. Years 4 and 5 wrote
about those places that are sacred to them; why they are special, who they go
there with, any rules there might be to protect their sacred place. They used
their senses to describe in detail just exactly what the place was like, so the
reader could be transported there as well. I’m sure you will be.
In talking about Indigenous Australia in modern society,
Years 6 and 7 brainstormed all the words, phrases, people and concepts that
come to mind when they think about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
today. Some of their work also reflects their own understanding of our shared
Australian history as well, and the choice to write performance pieces also
helped them to tell their stories.
It is important to note that some of the words and phrases
used in some these pieces reflect the racist vernacular of the time the
children were writing about, such as ‘half-blood’ and ‘native’. This
terminology is not used in today’s discussion around Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples, the First Peoples of Australia.
I thoroughly enjoyed the writing journey with these
beautiful students. I hope the parents enjoy the reading journey.
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