Boodja Ni
Bridgetown Primary School Year 5 and 6 students participated in a series of Boodja Ni residences this year. Aboriginal elders and artists visited the school to share their culture, artefacts and art with the students.
Boodja Ni is an inter-school arts project designed to create awareness of local Bibbulmun / Pibelmun Noongar culture and the processes of cross-cultural collaboration through a fun, creative and educational participatory experience that provides the foundation for future cultural exchange.
Suzanne Kelly - Elder for the Bibbulmun/Pibelmun community and Bill Bennell - a well-respect Nyungar man, visited to provide Cultural Foundations, sharing cultural history and ecological knowledge.
Kobi Morrison from Koorlong completed 3 Singing in Language sessions. The students heard First Nations music, sang interpretations of songs in the Noongar language and crafted their own song about indigenous animals.
The song is Listen to the Land and represents a collaboration of ideas, Pemberton, Manjimup, and East Manjimup Primary Schools, It is composed and sung by Kobi.
Over 3 sessions Sharyn Egan - a Noongar painter, weaver, and sculptor explained the process of making a straw totem and contributing to a balga sculpture that will be displayed at the primary schools involved. The students discussed, chose, and created their own straw totems after learning about the importance of totems in Aboriginal culture.
The students were creative and curious, and the sessions were engaging, informative, collaborative and educational. There is so much to learn and co-create! We are excited about future projects that enhance our students' understanding and appreciation of the ancient, enduring, and diverse culture of this land.