Blog archives for the day Friday, January 7th, 2011

Paying thanks to previous generations - Being Ochred

This is my ninth time going to Ku Ring Gai park, but I always learn something new. The students were ready to go after getting caught up on some sleep. The only thing that tried to hold us back was the weather. On the bus ride to the park we hit some major showers and then had some rain on and off through the morning. Despite this the students continued to show great interest and enthusiasm.

Group with Les

On arriving to the park we met up with Rae Lister and John Booth. I think that Rae and John have been meeting with our group for about four or five years, so it was great to catch up with them. Shortly thereafter Les McLeod arrived. Les is the Aboriginal coordinator for the Parks’s Discovery program. This was the first time that I had met Les and I was very impressed. Les has a great passion for educating people of all ages about the indigenous people and the need to show respect for their history and culture. His passion was evident and the students were very interested in his content.

Up close with an engraving of wallaby

He began our time by painting our foreheads and hands with ochre to help show respect for previous generations and the land.  Following this we spent much of our time going to many different sites of importance to the aboriginal people. He showed us many fascinating engravings and told us their importance. He also explained how the aboriginal people used various plants for food and medicine.

View from West Head Lookout

We also had a chance to take a look at West Head Lookout where we were able to see some great views of the area. It was very peaceful. After taking pictures of our views we had an exciting lunch. I say exciting because we had a visitor, the Lace Monitor. These are not animals you want to fool with, but luckily nothing bad happened. Following a quick look of Red Hands Cave, we had a chance to play some authentic aboriginal game. All the students had a chance to play both the traditionally male and traditionally female games. The moral of the female game was learning to protect their children and the moral of the male game was to learn how to hunt for food. After the games we had one more engraving site to see. We had a chance to go to the Echidna engraving site which was quite special because it is closed to the public.  Following our goodbyes we made a quick stop at Manley Beach on our way home. The one bad thing was that the water was not swimmable because of blue bottle jellyfish, but I am sure some last bit of time in the sun was enjoyed by all.

Throwing spears

I will close with a quote that I stole off of Les’s e-mail to me. Les, I hope this is okay. I feel that it sums up what he was trying to teach us very well.

I believe every woman on this planet is my sisters. I believe every man on this planet is my brother. Like all Koori’s I know the earth is my mother. Now, we must learn to share with those three. If the rest of the world could think about adopting that philosophy of sharing and caring there would be no wars, but most importantly there would be no starving children…’ – Charles ‘Chicka’ Dixon: Aboriginal Activist. ”The FOX”

Enchinda engraving

As Jason posted, we finally arrived in yesterday. We had a relatively uneventful flight. We did have one student whose bag did not arrive, but hopefully that will be fixed soon. After arrival to our hotel, we had a short meeting to talk about upcoming activities, expectations, etc.; all the fun stuff. After the meeting, we encouraged the students to stay up as long as possible because it would help out with jet lag.

It seems that most had the same idea and took a stroll around town. Of course the big highlights to be seen were the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Bridge. Some walked across part of the bridge and others went to Manly Beach. Jason and I had similar ideas. We enjoyed the area near Sydney Harbor, the Rocks and walked to Darling Harbor. On our way back from Darling Harbor, we walked through Hyde Park. Overall, it sounded like most of them turned in early for our first day of adventures.

Greetings From Sydney, Australia! It may have been a non-stop 15 hour flight, but the 29 Elon University students finally arrived on 7:42AM on January 6th (which involved completely missing out on January 25th ). The students were exhausted by being 14-hours ahead of their regular time but it did not stop them from exploring the Land Down Under. The Harbor Bridge, the opera house and downtown culture was what the students mostly tried to embrace on their free day. With cameras around their necks and the sun at a beautiful 90 degrees farenheit, it was the ideal day to take in. Staying in the area of Potts Point, students were able to socialize, explore and relax themselves for the incredible experience in which they were about to experience in the morning.

January 7th may be a Friday, but people were up earlier than the usual 8am Departure time (mostly due to the jet-lag) for the start of the course with an exhilirating trip to Kur-N-Gai National Park. The tour guide for the day, Leslie, took the students through an incredible tour of Aboriginal culture through stone floor stone carvings. Even with rain showers and excessive heat, we were enganged by all of the carvings and what they represented. Leslie began and ended the tour with making sure we all paid respects to his ancestors and everyone that goes back to the start of Australia’s history.

The most entertaining part of the day for us was byfar playing games of the aboriginal culture. One game involved throwing tennis balls at a centerpiece and the other involved using boomarangs and arrows. I felt that the class truly bonded today and all of us realized at Manly Beach during the conclusion of the day that this is “just the beginning”.

Stay Tuned for our next update from Canyoning in the Blue Mountains.

G’Day Mates.

-Raj Rawal – Class of 2012