1 November 2022 was the Year 7 Indigenous Ecology Day. We broke up into our science classes and had an Indigenous student mentor (Years 9-11) to help us for the day. We did things like traditional dancing, eating bush food and evening spear throwing. The day was all about indigenous culture, what they did, what they used and how they did it. The first activity my group did was eating bush tucker, we ate things like kangaroo, emu and even buffalo which all tasted AMAZING. Next, we moved on to my favourite, the dancing, we did the spirit, emu and kangaroo dance, then did the lost boys and ended with a celebration dance. Third, was spear throwing. This is what Indigenous people used to hunt for food. We did two throws each, one with a spear thrower and one without, the trick is that it is all about technique. Next, we learnt about when the British settled in Australia, which was very unsettling to the Indigenous people. We then had two external presenters talk to us about how women used to hold babies and collect food, the use of kangaroo skin and saw different weapons like spears and boomerangs. We also tried to make a fire which sadly didn’t work. Finally, we had a go at the didgeridoo. We made the sound of the kangaroo, the dingo and the emu. Overall, today was an amazing experience and can’t be more grateful to have such an amazing culture.

Marcus Quartermaine Year 7