ST JOESEPH’S Catholic Primary School lent a hand at the Pinjarra Massacre site, cleaning the area for next week’s anniversary.
The year six and seven students, who were joined by the Koolbardies Talking Group on Monday, had the chance to learn about the local historical event.
It’s a regular occurrence for the school to attend the site and year seven teacher Simone McKenna said it was important for both the students and staff to talk about.
“At first there wasn’t a huge amount of knowledge when we first started coming down,” she said.
“Originally it was something we just didn’t talk about.
“But now we make sure the students are aware of it at a young age and they can go off and do some more research as they get older.”
October 28 will be mark 179 years since the event, which the Koolbardies Talking Group said was nothing but a massacre, despite also being called the Battle of Pinjarra.
“We do call it a massacre because basically it was a group of men armed with guns as opposed to spears,” Koolbardies Talking Group member Louise Helfgott said.
The Koolbardies Talking Group is a meeting group for Indigenous and non-Indigenous women who regularly take part in events such as the site’s clean up.
The members, who were joined by Aboriginal elder Geroge Walley, shared their knowledge with the students.
“It’s a remarkable thing you are doing,” Mr Walley told the students.
“To show respect to this location and the story that goes along with this as well.”
Koolbardies Talking Group member Barbara Pickett said she didn’t know of any other school that regularly cleans up a cultural site.
She said it was great the school had taken such a positive approach to the local historical event.
“I don’t know any other school that is doing something like this,” Ms Pickett said.
“It’s all about reconciliation and it’s a really powerful story their learning about.”
