Earlier this month, NACC NRM’s Aboriginal Custodianship team partnered with our friends from Euphorium Creative on a mission to keep our community, both kids and parents, entertained during the recent school holidays!
Our Aboriginal Custodianship Program Coordinator Priscilla Papertalk and Trainee Kyiesha Ronan headed out to Rocks Laneway in Marine Terrace, armed with NACC NRM educational resources to join in on Euphorium’s school holiday program!
As always, NACC NRM’s giant jigsaw puzzle made from Badimia Yamatji – Balladong Noongar artist, Acacia Collard’s intricate artwork ‘Collaborating on Country’, was a huge hit among the kids, as they worked together to solve the puzzle and learn about the meaning behind Acacia’s artwork. Another favourite was the trusted colouring in, featuring plants, animals and landscapes from around the beautiful Northern Agricultural Region. Later in the day, the kids came together to trace each of their hands and create a poster about reconnecting to and caring for Country.
With a smaller group, Priscilla and Kyiesha demonstrated Bundiyarra Irra Wangga Language Centre’s interactive Wajarri and Badimia dictionaries, which each use a pen that scans words in First Nations language, and translates them aloud to English! The dictionaries are an engaging and effective resource; kids come away from the day having learned new words or phrases, a great way of keeping our region’s languages alive.
In another session, the team had everyone getting involved cultural weaving, weaving baskets and learning about the history and cultural practices of weaving in earlier times. This activity ended up drawing the largest crowd of the day, and proved to be a big hit for young and old!
Throughout the day, many parents expressed how grateful they were for the school holiday program providing engaging activities to keep the young ones busy! It was a joy for the Aboriginal Custodianship team to spend the day in the community, and we look forward to many more.
These educational activities are very important & engage children whilst providing them valuable leads to our past peoples way of life.