Cape York 2024 Student Immersion

This week’s reflections of the Cape York Immersion come from Georgia O’Keefe now Year 11 student who travelled with the Yellow Group to Wurrey and Melsonby homelands.  

Here is an excerpt from Georgia’s Cape York Reflection

Cape York was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Amongst the bustle of school and sounds of the city, I ask myself: when will I ever again experience such natural, fluent wisdom. Life lessons gifted under an amber sun, uniting new-found friends, teachers, and knowledge-holders with a warmth so deep it glows now. To convey the significance and preciousness of these glowing memories I would like to first return to their moments of happening, transcribing points captured in my journal entries over the 10 day trip.

30 September 2024

Wantharra! This morning we had a language workshop – Wanthara meaning Good morning in the Guugu Yimidhirrr language – and art activities with Auntie Cheryl. Uncle Bernie also read to us a book written by his father that retells Guugu Yimidhirr Dreaming. We learnt that Old Man Fog, an ancient spirit with whom Bernie connects deeply, is the creator of Wurrey. Their generosity is immense. After such a busy morning we headed to the snaking river and lay in the shallow, chilly water like barnacles gripping to cool sandstone. I closed my eyes while a hot pink AFL splashed around me and felt the spirit of Old Man Fog.

1 October 2024

It’s October now, the seasons are changing, the frangipani and jacarandas beginning to blossom. A trip so foreign to everything I know is the perfect herald for change, for growth. Around me, girls scrawl feverishly in their dairies as we feast on bacon and eggs. Earlier, before egg yolk and barbecue sauce smothered my lips, Bernie guided us around his land. He explained the significance and purpose of each plant, tenderly admiring the trees as if they were his children. There were Date and Sultana Trees for sweet-toothed children, Paperbarks for baby carries and the lining of boats, green ants for a pre-breakfast snack, and the Soapy Tree’s sudsy leaves to rinse of our hands of their tangy citrus bodies. We too are growing resourceful in the absence of technology… with no phones, we turn to glitter pens for technicoloured vibrancy. 

Although words will never really express what our Cape York Immersion meant to me, these reflections are absolutely a step in the right direction. I hope it inspires more footsteps, more indents in red earth. Footsteps that straighten knotted spirals into paths of winding freedom, cloaking all in the love, respect, and knowledge experienced at Melsonby and Wurrey.