SCEGGS Stories of Immersion in Indigenous Australia
In the Term 3 holidays 74 students and 12 staff embarked on three different Immersion Trips, two to the Cape York Peninsula and one to the Top End in the Northern Territory. Over the remainder of the term, students who participated in these immersions will share some of their stories and memories about the significance of their 10-day immersions and the wealth of experiences and insights they have gained. We hope that through these you can appreciate the depth of their journey and its impact.
Reflections from the Cape York Immersion (Yellow Group)
Cape York Immersion, WOW what an experience! This immersion has benefitted me in so many ways. My knowledge and understanding of Indigenous Australians has grown to a much broader extent, and without going on this trip I wouldn’t have been able to see my culture and history through a different lens. This trip has shaped me to be the best version of myself, to consider the way my actions affect others and to better understand that Australia is one whole nation together. Kicking off the trip with a 4am start (not too much fun), the nerves started to kick in, that its finally coming to life after all the preparation that has gone into this immersion. But on returning, I am so grateful that I was given the opportunity to experience this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Photos and videos don’t do justice to the beauty and surrealness of both homelands.
Yungee Bush Camp, the first homeland we visited, brought so much joy and happiness to me. But as we were saying goodbye, Estelle (one of the Traditional Owners) stated that “if you were to take my blood and your blood it would be the same, because we are family”. This was just beautiful and moving and meant so much to us SCEGGS girls. It was wonderful to know how much we impacted the Traditional Owners so positively within a short matter of time. Going out on Country, learning firsthand, is something you’ll never be able do in a classroom out of a textbook.
Logging Crossing, our second homeland, brought us a different experience of connection to Country. Gathering around the campfire whilst the Traditional Owner’s performed renditions of their history and storytelling through music, was the most amazing experience and gave everyone teary eyes.
Leaving this trip, without a doubt has taught me so many lessons that I will be forever grateful for: the importance of family, being grateful for easy access to materials and resources, and appreciating the amazing life opportunities that SCEGGS has to offer.
Walking off Country, thinking what I can now do to move forward, was a hard one to consider. Within Australia there is always some sort of racism, mocking or slurs being thrown around about us Indigenous people, and myself being a Proud Wiradjuri Woman from Wellington NSW, I would like to make a change to the way Australians view Indigenous people. Indigenous people automatically get known for drinking alcohol, taking drugs or participating in criminal actions. Not all Indigenous people go down the wrong path. There are well known Indigenous Australians out there in the world making a name for themselves and their culture because they’re proud of who they and where they come from. Moving forward, we can have more discussions and spread greater awareness about the need for reconciliation and about how to change the nation’s perceptions of Indigenous people here in Australia.
Naylise Thompson
Year 10
Reflections from the Top End Immersion
As I reflect on the last two weeks, I can confidently say that attending the 2023 Top End Immersion was one of the best decisions I have made during my secondary school life. Having participated in a Red Earth trip to Cape York last year, I contemplated the value of another immersion experience. However, my learnings from the Top End have far exceeded anything I could have imagined, with innumerable new perspectives, memories and connections to take away from the trip.
Over 10 days, we split most of our time between two locations; Nauiyu, which is a community of around 400 people, and Banatjarl, a Homeland of about 20 extended family members. While there were different learnings and takeaways from each place, the common and most memorable factor was the warmth and generosity of the Traditional Owners. Sharing their stories, cultures and time with us, I could not have felt more welcome and cared for by people I had known for just a few days. In Nauiyu, my eyes were opened to the immense challenges faced by remote communities, regarding healthcare, education, employment, poverty and access to supplies. But I was also filled with the joy and connection of such a tight-knit community, especially throughout the afternoon we all spent together, cooking damper and kangaroo tails, and playing with all of the local kids. In Banatjarl, I furthered my learning of cultures and traditions that have endured tens of thousands of years. Sharing stories and conversations with the Traditional Owners over dinner every night, I gained perspectives and memories that cannot be replicated elsewhere, with people I will never forget.
We also completed a community project in Banatjarl, building a vegetable garden for the Traditional Owners. It was hard work made tougher by the 39-degree heat, but we worked together as a group to create something that will hopefully benefit the family for years to come. I found this to be the most rewarding part of the trip, especially seeing the smiles and gratitude on the Traditional Owners’ faces when they saw the results.
For me, those few days represented a larger takeaway from the trip as a whole: nothing worth doing is ever easy. There were certainly some challenges for us along the way, being in a constant state of hot, sweaty and dirty, living in such close proximity to each other with only a few moments alone, and many of us being far out of our comfort zones without the family support to which we are accustomed. However, we lifted each other as a group, such that the tougher moments pale into insignificance when compared to the immense learnings and irreplaceable memories gained throughout the immersion. It was an incredible experience, which I cannot recommend highly enough to anybody considering participating in the future.
Ilana Patkar
Year 11
Reflections from the Cape York Immersion (Red Group)
When writing this article, I find it difficult on where to start! The Cape York Immersion experience was filled with so many moments of laughter, learning and pure joy. (I even begin to tear up a little thinking about it!).
Looking back to the lead-up of the trip my mind swirled with thoughts that now feel so meaningless, like “what if I cannot shower for the whole trip and absolutely stink!”. I forgot the reason I signed up in the first place, so worried about technicalities, and other details that didn’t matter at all. I wanted this experience to be an opportunity where I could learn more about Indigenous Australia, make myself a better person and work towards reconciliation in our country. To be quite honest I had no idea if the trip would fulfill these goals, or what to expect from the trip in general, but the entire experience quite literally blew my mind!
The Indigenous traditional owners were nothing but kind and loving the entire stay, so willing to share their culture and knowledge with us. They answered our questions and queries with laughter and smiles and shared with us their stories and traditions. I learnt about green ant soup that could help my asthma, soap trees that could work as on-the-go bush soap, the wisdom of Mosaic burning that allows for animals to move in time and plants to not go extinct. I found it so lovely how willing the traditional owners were to share their culture with us. We got to make traditional Pandanus bangles, learn how to build a Humpy (it is essentially like a bush tent!), and go fishing at the most beautiful river.
The memories of the trip are also ones which I will treasure for a lifetime! A teacher on the trip, Mr. Mitton said that some of the best experiences were the unplanned ones – and I think he was exactly right! Cutting the damper with Julie was an unexpected highlight, and so was trying Barramundi, one of the kids caught. Playing card games, listening to stories, accidentally dropping my fishing line into the water and being convinced I saw a crocodile when it was just my own shadow…
In addition to gaining these memories I was also able to have conversations with the traditional owners I never would have been able to have in my life otherwise. An important question I asked was “what is the best path to healing and reconciliation in our country” and the traditional owners answers took me by surprise. They said learning and knowledge, understanding Indigenous culture, coming together, and forming connections. I think knowledge is so powerful, and I have a responsibility to facilitate all the knowledge I learnt from this stay.
Reconciliation can happen if we have a true understanding of the history of Indigenous Australia before colonisation hit. We need to put in the effort of understanding, so that we can better reconcile. Forming individual connections is a path to beating prejudice as I believe when you connect with someone at the heart barriers like age, race, sex gender all melt away. Individual connections are powerful, and connection with others is something that sticks with us for our entire lives.
Below is a summarised entry from my Red Earth Journal of Day 4.
Today was a day full of knowledge and learning- It was Jampacked and so exciting! After a very sophisticated cereal breakfast we began our activities and first collected leaves of Pandanus plants, which can be used to make bracelets, cutlery holders, mats and even fishing nets! After this we learnt how to build a humpy which is essentially a bush tent, made by folding flexible sticks over each other, securing with damp strips of bark and putting paperbark over the top! The Humpy was really fun to make with the traditional owner Larry, and I felt really privileged to be able to learn about this firsthand. If a tent breaks we now know what to do! We then collected some sand in jars which was really lovely to admire the shades of purple, red and white that made up the earth in the area! Afterwards, we used the Pandanus leaves we collected to weave some bangles! Finally, the last activity in the afternoon entailed us fishing, or the stronger word for it was attempting to fish (At least by my part). It was a lovely relaxing afternoon where we could connect with people on the trip and have fun by the water (From a safe distance due to crocodiles!). We lastly cooled off in the creek and sat around with the traditional owners around the campfire! They answered some of our questions, and I was filled with sadness as this was our last night at Melsonby. I feel I have formed real connections to these traditional owners!
Taylor Yaldwyn
Year 9
