Tasting Our Indigenous Culture

Tasting Our Indigenous Culture

A culture is the totality of a society transmitted through behaviour patterns, arts, beliefs, and all other products of human work and thought. A culture is something that grows, and something special we can share.

Quite ironically, our Bush Tucker Garden here at Bungwahl Public School evolved from our garden of escape weeds, with our children learning weed identification, its safe removal, and then finding favourable bush tucker species to replace them. The children then measured their way around the garden with grid paper, measuring tapes and rulers, drafting up their garden plan to a scale of 1:100. As they measured their way around, you could see the light bulbs clicking on, as one by one the children really got it. I love how this program can target learning styles that are often very hard to cover in a classroom.

Rain sometimes restricted us to indoor garden classes, where the children researched their Bush Tucker, discovering its traditional uses, and potential growth height. Then working together with Isabelle Strachan (our volunteer Mum), the children used Old Man Banksia who stands proud at the top of our tucker garden as their visual guide, and drafted their bush tucker into their scale plan magnified on the whiteboard.

Once the children had planted all their tucker they were treated to an adventure with Steve Brereton down to Treachery, where he captivated us with his stories of the dreaming from the lighthouse, and treated us to the tastes of the bush, growing wild, that are yet to fruit in our tucker garden. I love how our kids now taste it all with no hesitation.

Now standing proud at the entrance of our garden opposite Old Man Banksia is our Dreamtime water tank. Our children have absolutely loved painting with Mandy Davis, while learning some traditional ‘Gathang' language.

Of all the experiences we have had in our kitchen garden program, I would have to say that this has been the most enlightening and enchanting so far. I love that our Indigenous children are not segregated from our other children, that whatever we do at Bungwahl Public School, if it's one in, it's all in. It's important we all learn this wonderful culture. As Mandy says when she welcomes us to country.....