Aboriginal connections to Country excursion
HSIE geography
How do Aboriginal people connect with the land, water, and wildlife? How can we connect to Country?
Students will explore the natural areas through traditional Aboriginal practices and understandings. They’ll investigate how Darug people care for Country and how we are cared for by it.
Stage 1 students will engage in hands-on activities to learn about custodianship of the bushland they traverse. They’ll interpret and create stories, identify local plants and their traditional uses, and understand the importance of water, land, and life.
Learning activities
Program
Students go on a journey to investigate Aboriginal culture and connections to Country. On a bushwalk through natural areas, students will explore the connections Darug people have to Country through various activities and storytelling. Students will learn about how Country provides various resources including tools, weapons, food, medicines as well as learning the many ways we can care for Country.
Key questions
- What are the features of this place?
- How are Aboriginal Peoples connected to Country in this place?
- How is Aboriginal Country represented?
- How can we care for Country?
Fieldwork
Students will walk through the bush to learn to tune in and connect with their surroundings. They will use Aboriginal Dreaming stories to identify the natural features of their environment.
Through teacher-led and student-directed activities, students will learn about the features of the bushland, how it is cared for, and how it was utilised by Aboriginal Peoples.
Activities include creating sand stories using animal tracks, a sensory guided bush resource walk, creating a natural frog orchestra and nature based memory games.
To conclude the day students will reflect on and recount what they have learnt whilst creating an ochre based artwork.
Syllabus outcomes and content
Human Society and its Environment K-6 Syllabus (2024)
People are connected to places and groups
Outcomes
- Describes interactions between Aboriginal Peoples and Country HS1-ACH-01
- Describes ways people connect to and care for places, water environments and each other, using geographical information HS1-GEO-01
Content
Aboriginal Peoples have a responsibility to Country
- Identify how Aboriginal Country is represented in a range of contexts
- Describe ways in which Aboriginal Peoples use Knowledge of land, water and sky Country in everyday life
Text link
This excursion supports the study of the text Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy and Lisa Kennedy. Walker Books (2016).
Other syllabus links
Learning experiences will also support but not explicitly teach the following outcome:
English K-10 Syllabus (2022)
Vocabulary
- Understands and effectively uses Tier 1, taught Tier 2 and Tier 3 vocabulary to extend and elaborate ideas EN1-VOCAB-01
English K-10 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2022
Human Society and its Environment K-6 Syllabus © NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA) for and on behalf of the Crown in right of the State of New South Wales, 2024
