Wiradjuri Echoes visit 2021

We were absolutely delighted to welcome back Duncan and Wiradjuri Echoes to the GAP! The Thursday/Friday class had a wonderful time and learned a lot.

Duncan showed us some interesting Aboriginal artefacts and taught us the Wiradjuri names for them. He played his didgeridoo to make all kinds of Australian animal noises for us to guess, and then put it all together in a story and dance. He let us sing some Wiradjuri songs with him.

All good kangaroos hop to the sound of clapping sticks and Duncan chanting!
There was some discussion about what a one-armed kangaroo might do if it needed to scratch its belly.

As a keepsake, Duncan drew us a kangaroo picture to colour in and take home.

Does it look like a kangaroo yet? (Duncan drew it sideways so it wasn’t apparent to the children that it would be a kangaroo until the end when he turned it right way up and we could all see!)

The best part was being painted like Warriors and Berry Princesses, then dancing along as various Australian animals while Duncan played the didgeridoo and related the story about the frog Tidalik .

Our first brave warrior lines up to have his face painted by Duncan.
Crouching like Tidalik the frog, getting ready to JUMP!
Here comes the eel to try to make Tidalik the frog laugh.

If you are lucky, you might be able to view this little video clip too, of the children dancing to Duncan singing a Kangaroo song:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/100En6oXqNb4WoRsWtCANw8SOUMEzRr7Q/view?usp=sharing