St Damien’s Primary School students were immersed in Aboriginal culture for NAIDOC day on Thursday.
Aboriginal education co-ordinator Megan Povey organised a number of different stations that class groups rotated through, including sports, cooking, art, face-painting and story-telling.
Ms Povey said: “Throughout the day, the whole school would’ve had an opportunity to be engaged.
“Rather than the kids just watching a performance, they’re more involved in the culture and actually engaging in the activities of the culture as well, like the traditional games, they talk about the background history.”
The students make over 60 batches of damper in the school kitchen on the day, which they ate in the Aboriginal garden, named Wardan Bo Djenabidi, which is noongar for “the track between the ocean and the estuary”.
They also painted tapping sticks with the help of artists Gloria Bliss and Maureen Foster, who came from Rockingham and Wagin to help out.
The tapping sticks will be used in the school’s music program.
Parent volunteers painted the children’s faces, and two elders shared stories and demonstrated traditional weapons, used for hunting and fighting.
At lunchtime the Moorditj Mob from Wesley College performed traditional dances to the didgeridoo for the whole school.
“Moorditj is the Noongar word for good or strong or excellent,” Wesley teacher Ben Lewis said.
“There’s 43 Indigenous boys that go to the school, they come from all around Western Australia, and... as part of the cultural program at the school, they do dance,” he said.
Sharon Cooke, from the Catholic Education Office in Bunbury, helped Ms Povey to coordinate the day and involve the community.
She said she thought it was important for the children to have a good understanding of what Aboriginal culture is about, and that it has been here for a long time.
“We don’t want mixed thoughts and things like that, so if we can come into schools and continue that education with them at this age, so they grow up with that knowledge, it’s good,” she said.
NAIDOC Week officially runs from July 3-10.