BALNARRING Pre School was recently joined by Balnarring Primary School, Balnarring Early Learning Centre and St Joseph’s school to celebrate and honour First Nations’ Peoples cultures by participating in The Little Long Walk.
The event is part of the Bundjil Nest project that involves learning about cultures through a variety of experiences.
Karen Anderson from the pre school said Steve Parker welcomed the group with a smoking ceremony that involved him playing the yidaki and clapping sticks.
The students helped to create banners that they carried on the walk through the Balnarring Primary School grounds to Balnarring village, waving to shoppers and shopkeepers as they went.
The children spilt into two groups at the civic reserve to learn a traditional Indigenous game delivered by Clothing the Gap Foundation and dance with the Indigenous outreach project.
At the end of the day everyone came together to watch a performance by the dancers, followed by an all-in dance session.
Anderson said the event exposed the children and Balnarring community to First Nations cultures as part of the Bundjil Nest project’s commitment to reconciliation.
The Little Long Walk originated in 2002, when former AFL legend Michael Long decided that something needed to be done about the plight of the First Nations’ Peoples community, so he walked 650 kilometres from his home in Melbourne to Parliament House, Canberra to meet the prime minister and share his concerns.
First published in the Western Port News – 9 November 2022
