Cape York 2024 Student Immersion

We continue to share the personal reflections and photos from the students who were on this year’s immersion to Traditional Homelands in Cape York. This week we hope you enjoy the reflections from Talia Barrack (Year 10) and Laila Basha (Year 10).

For the previous week’s reflections see here.

Carol Bloomfield
Head of Student Wellbeing Programs

Reflections from the Cape York Immersion

My experience at Cape York was the most amazing time of my life. I learnt so much and I had so much fun. On this trip I went to the homelands Wurrey and Melsonby, both very different places where I experienced different things. Through these two homelands I learnt so much about the longest living culture that I could have never learnt while still being in Sydney.

At Wurrey, Uncle Bernie and Aunty Cheryl welcomed us onto their land. We had many discussions on the education system for Indigenous kids, learning a lot about language as well. Almost every day at this homeland we went down the creek to refresh and reflect. Learning from Uncle Bernie and Aunty Cheryl really changed my perspective on a lot of things. They shared their childhood stories; Aunty was taken from her home to go to boarding school at a young age. Uncle was going to be taken away, but he ran away and lived in the bush. Uncle Bernie also told us about his totem ‘Old man fog’, telling us that he would stay with us everywhere we travel. We made sand bottles out of the sand from the nearby beach.

Uncle Bernie and Aunty Cheryl took us on a bush walk where we learnt about different trees, plants and animals. We tried the green ant for the first time which I was nervous to try but it was fun to try. I really enjoyed learning about different bush tucker. We made scones with Aunty Cheryl with their honey from their bee hives. We had a language lesson with Aunty Cheryl in their traditional language, Guugu Yimithirr. Then Uncle Bernie showed us how to throw a spear and he set up a box as a target for all of us. The tactic was to throw the spear upwards rather than straight to the target. At night we watched a documentary, ‘An Australian Diaspora and land claim’. Then it was time to say goodbye to Aunty Cheryl. For our last night at Wurrey we all sat around the campfire and reflected on our experiences and thanked Uncle Bernie and Aunty Cheryl for welcoming us onto their land. We talked about our changed perspectives and were forever thankful for the experience that Uncle Bernie and Aunty Cheryl gave us.

The next morning it was time to leave Wurrey homeland and go to Melsonby. During our journey we did a scavenger hunt in Cooktown, learning about the history of it. We then went for a swim at Isabella falls but then it was time to start travelling again to our next homeland.

Then we were welcomed to Melsonby ranger station by Uncle Bulla and many other traditional owners who lived on the land. We were also welcomed by many puppies and their mum. Then we had a smoking ceremony done by the traditional owners to fight off evil spirits on the land. We set up camp and made dinner, going to sleep ready for the next day. This day Uncle Bulla took us on a bush walk where we saw many rocks painting and did many activities. We put these nuts on sticks and had to fling them as far as we could. He said this was a game that kids would play on the homeland. There were many plants on the bush walks that could be used for medicine, soap and dyes. The rock painting consisted of many things but the one that stood out to me were the paintings of spirits. Two that I remember were the medicine man and another short red man that would steal children. These were the evil spirits the smoking ceremony was protecting us from. Denta was another traditional owner that told us about the paintings, many used as maps from past generations. Then we went fishing with the traditional owners with hand lines which was surprisingly hard. Denta taught us how to do it and also got the bait on the hook for us. Then, Aunty Julie gave us rocks and paint, creating beautiful patterns on them. I had a very insightful conversation with one of the traditional owners, Denta. She really changed my perspective on many things and taught me new things about her culture that we would have never learnt in school. She told me about her totem and what it meant to her. Her totem was the brown snake and embodied the spirit of her old people. We learnt many other things about spirits and how it connected to the passing of people and future events. I found it extremely interesting to hear about the amazing connection to land that Indigenous Australians have. Denta also gave us her opinion on the education system, foster care and Australia Day. All these opinions have me a new perspective to consider.

We did more bushwalks, learning more about the traditional owner’s culture each day. There were so many rock paintings that we saw at Melsonby that each had a unique story and connected to their culture. After learning about many more paintings, we started to prepare the Gumura (cup Murray) to have for dinner that night. This was a special experience where the Elders taught us a traditional practice that many generations had used to prepare dinner. The Traditional Owners put all our tinfoil wrapped food in the underground oven and while we waited, we painted the rainbow serpent on the water tank of Melsonby. This was a great way to finish off our experience at this homeland, leaving our mark like every other school that had been there. We all added our handprints and our own animals on the tank and then left it to dry. After that night it was time to say goodbye to this homeland and go to the campsite to end this amazing experience.

This entire experience was once in a lifetime, and I could not wish for anything else. My highlight of this trip was talking to Denta about various aspects of her culture with many stories to tell about her life as an Indigenous woman. Uncle Bernie and Aunty Cheryl also were very open with their experiences, teaching me so much through stories and conversations. Denta mentioned when she was talking to me that one thing, she would change in the education system is the bullying. As an Indigenous person she experienced a lot of prejudice from for non-Indigenous classmates which caused her and many others to not finish school. I also heard many other confronting things that had happened to her family members because of bullying. This is the key thing I will take away from this trip because of the common misconceptions about Indigenous people’s education. I feel that no matter how hard the government tries to get Indigenous-Australians in school, the only thing that will keep them strong is to stop the bullying. I think this can be acted upon by me spreading this message to lots of people and passing on many of the stories that I heard from the traditional owners on both homelands.

Cape York was not only fun but a life changing experience for me that I would not trade for the world.

Talia Barrack (Year 10)

Cape York was an experience in which I will never forget and will forever be grateful for. It showed me and exposed so many important things and great experiences that I wasn’t aware of before. Being away from home, no technology, being around people 24/7. Meeting and getting to know the Traditional Elders were something unforgettable, truly a one in a lifetime experience. The knowledge and culture that they shared is something I will always treasure and hold dear. Thinking back and reflecting on the time spent at Cape York makes me rethink decisions in day-to-day life, things like gratitude and not taking anything for granted, it really made me realise how privileged and lucky I really am. Something I didn’t give much thought before. One of the things I really enjoyed was spending time with people that I didn’t know much before and creating unbreakable connections and friendships with people that I see daily, whether it was a teacher, fellow Year 10s and Year 9s. We all have a special connection now that we spent that precious time together which is something that I appreciate and love dearly. The first homeland we visited was Kalkajaka with the Traditional Owner Ian. We spent time, fishing, cooking, swimming, around the campfire, showing off our talents at the talent show and spending valuable time with everyone around the campfire, settling into this environment and getting used to the lifestyle. From this homeland I took way several values that I will keep close to my heart, kindness, teamwork, appreciation of the things we love and need and the benefits of green ants! Then we said bye to Ian and set off to meet Tim and Elaine at Panamuunji. This was a completely different experience as we started building things like flushing toilets and garden beds. This was an experience that at the time seemed a bit slow in the heat of Queensland but now that I look back it is something I will treasure. Now that I am back home, in the comfort of my own house and family I often think about my time away and catch myself missing certain aspects of Cape York life. It was a trip I am so very grateful for and recommend to everyone. This trip for me, brought about gratitude, knowledge, teamwork and just simply precious connections with people which is something we all take for granted and thanks to my experience it is something I aim never to do again.

Laila Basha (Year 10)