An Aboriginal dance troupe, smoking ceremony and flag presentation are all features of the grand opening of Goodstart Redbank Plains’ new bush tucker garden on Thursday October 27 from 11am.
Member for Oxley, Milton Dick will present a set of Australian and Indigenous flags to Elder Yugara Tulma Garringgam Yuggera Ipswich Aboriginal Yeeran, who will accept them on behalf of the early learning centre.
Yugara Tulma Garringgam Yuggera Ipswich Aboriginal Wajin and the ‘Yugara Dance Troupe’ will also perform traditional dance on the day and Wajin will perform a smoking ceremony and welcome to country.
The bush tucker garden has been developed with the help of Brendan Stephen who owns Natural Bushland Ecology, and features a number of native plants including Finger Lime, Riberry, Lemon Myrtle and Blue Lilli Pilli which are all local to South-East Queensland.
Learning about cultural diversity and social inclusion was behind Goodstart Redbank Plains’ plan to develop the bush tucker garden and incorporate Australia’s First culture in to the centre.
Centre director Melissa Beacock said they were excited about the level of support they had received from throughout the community.
“We wanted our commitment to Indigenous culture to be genuine and respectful and something that would allow us to acknowledge the traditional land owners in a way that would be authentic and something we could do on a daily basis,” Ms Beacock said.
The centre reached out to Milton Dick’s office to see if he would like to be involved and staff were over the moon when he accepted. The team then asked Brendan Stephen to help with the garden because of his experience, knowledge and approach to restoring native bush land communities.
“He’s donating his time to design and implement the bush tucker and native plant garden,” Ms Beacock said.
“Brendan is so excited about this, he is also creating ‘Participant Booklets’ to present the bush food buddies program with the children about the native plants as well as incorporating local wild life and conservation areas with the local region.”
Ms Beacock has also invited Wajin to visit the centre in the future to teach the children about fire stick rubbings, boomerang throwing, storytelling and to teach the Yuggera language.
“Here at Goodstart Redbank Plains we have been working extremely hard to make important connections within the wider community.
“What started as an idea to incorporate more knowledge and understand about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture into the service quickly took shape into something a lot bigger with a lot more heart and soul squeezed in,” she said.
Goodstart Early Learning is committed to inclusion – where all children have the right to an education that lays a foundation for the rest of their lives.
Member for Oxley, Milton Dick will present a set of Australian and Indigenous flags to Elder Yugara Tulma Garringgam Yuggera Ipswich Aboriginal Yeeran, who will accept them on behalf of the early learning centre.
Yugara Tulma Garringgam Yuggera Ipswich Aboriginal Wajin and the ‘Yugara Dance Troupe’ will also perform traditional dance on the day and Wajin will perform a smoking ceremony and welcome to country.
The bush tucker garden has been developed with the help of Brendan Stephen who owns Natural Bushland Ecology, and features a number of native plants including Finger Lime, Riberry, Lemon Myrtle and Blue Lilli Pilli which are all local to South-East Queensland.
Learning about cultural diversity and social inclusion was behind Goodstart Redbank Plains’ plan to develop the bush tucker garden and incorporate Australia’s First culture in to the centre.
Centre director Melissa Beacock said they were excited about the level of support they had received from throughout the community.
“We wanted our commitment to Indigenous culture to be genuine and respectful and something that would allow us to acknowledge the traditional land owners in a way that would be authentic and something we could do on a daily basis,” Ms Beacock said.
The centre reached out to Milton Dick’s office to see if he would like to be involved and staff were over the moon when he accepted. The team then asked Brendan Stephen to help with the garden because of his experience, knowledge and approach to restoring native bush land communities.
“He’s donating his time to design and implement the bush tucker and native plant garden,” Ms Beacock said.
“Brendan is so excited about this, he is also creating ‘Participant Booklets’ to present the bush food buddies program with the children about the native plants as well as incorporating local wild life and conservation areas with the local region.”
Ms Beacock has also invited Wajin to visit the centre in the future to teach the children about fire stick rubbings, boomerang throwing, storytelling and to teach the Yuggera language.
“Here at Goodstart Redbank Plains we have been working extremely hard to make important connections within the wider community.
“What started as an idea to incorporate more knowledge and understand about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture into the service quickly took shape into something a lot bigger with a lot more heart and soul squeezed in,” she said.
Goodstart Early Learning is committed to inclusion – where all children have the right to an education that lays a foundation for the rest of their lives.