"Miimi Marraal, Mother Earth" By Melissa Greenwood

From Rose Park Community Centre: Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges encourages openness to diverse perspectives, enhancing all children’s experiences with the longest surviving Indigenous culture of the world and the custodians of this land. In the Kuula room, music plays an important role in development. Educators often use song as another means of knowledge building, playing all genres of music from jazz to hip hop and everything culturally diverse in between. Through consultation with Aboriginal Elders, the embedment of Kaurna language in program and practice further enhances children’s experiences. Song plays a crucial role in achieving this. Music is universal, songs that are sang in language, create moments of connection for all. Children model to their families the Kaurna songs, words and actions that they learn whilst at care. Kaurna words are spoken through everyday conversation, in particular through greetings, the “care for country” song in which is unpacked and modified in accordance with each room’s developmental understanding and the names of the animals on country. We acknowledge that we all have so much more to work towards, but the foundations for knowledge, the openness and willingness to learn is evident and to start somewhere is better than not starting at all.

Reconciliation Week 2022 Competition: In our play studio, we aim to respectfully incorporate Aboriginal perspectives and community knowledge into daily practices by creating a welcoming environment that features a Larrakia language greeting and native wildlife imagery. Children engage with resources by Aboriginal artists, using contemporary printed paper to create collages of native animals while learning their traditional names. This led to our own version of the "Cuddly Koala" song, incorporating traditional language and movement. We include diverse literature to reflect important cultural events and encourage meaningful conversations around children's ideas and interpretations. Our indoor space features natural and native imagery to inspire curiosity about the natural world, and through our Wilwilma (rainbow lorikeet toy) project, children take turns bringing it home to share their family life and culture, while teaching others the traditional name of the bird.