Indigenous Immersion trip to Cape York

Over the September school holidays, a group of 26 students from Year 10 and 11, along with Ms Dito, Ms Colreavy, and Ms Spurr went on an Indigenous Immersion trip to Cape York with the organisation Red Earth. 

Red Earth is an Australian organisation that provides students with the opportunity to stay at Indigenous homelands to learn about their culture, history, and language. It allows students to immerse themselves in the oldest living culture, connect with Traditional Owners, and participate in thought-provoking and eye-opening experiences. 

Throughout the nine days the group travelled to two homelands. The first location was Panamuunji with Traditional Owners Tim and Elaine, where we went on bush walks, learnt about bush tucker and medicine with Tim, swam in the creek, and had language and painting lessons with Elaine. Whilst in Panamuunji, the group also completed a community project where we built steps down to the creek, and extended the outdoor kitchen area for future Red Earth groups to use.

After stopping by Hope Vale art centre, we set off on a bus trip to the second homeland, Melsonby, where we set up our tents and were greeted with a Welcome to Country smoking ceremony, which welcomed us onto the homeland and protected us during our stay. Whilst in Melsonby, we went on bush walks to visit sacred sites with 100 000 year old rock art where we learnt about the brown snake, which is the totem of the Balnggarrawarra group. We went fishing, made bracelets and painted, created a Humpy, which is a traditional shelter, made bangles out of leaves, and prepared a Kup-murri, which is an underground oven feast made for special occasions in Indigenous culture. Our final night in Melsonby finished around the campfire where Uncle Bulla showed the group how to throw a spear, and Joe played and gifted us with a didgeridoo which he made during our stay.

We ended our trip in Cairns, snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, with a marine biologist and culture guide leading our group, incorporating aspects of both Indigenous and marine life into our tour. 

We are incredibly grateful for this once in a lifetime opportunity, and have made memories we will treasure forever. We learnt to survive without our phones for nine days, which allowed us to take part in Bama time, and fully immerse ourselves in the experience. One thing that will always stick with us is the idea that if “you look after the land, the land looks after you”. 

Amy Davis and Mia Bartram, Year 11 Students

Ms Stephanie Dito, Gifted and Talented Coordinator (Acting) and HSIE Teacher

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