On Wednesday 26 and Thursday 27 March, the Junior School welcomed Pallyan in to teach our students about Wurundjeri-Woiwurrung language and culture. This is the first of five sessions that Pallyan will run over the year and will become a progression across the Junior School in years to come.

Over the two days, all classes had a session with Pallyan where they were able to ask questions and learn about Wurundjeri-Woiwurrung culture. St Catherine’s is situated on Wurundjeri land and it was a great opportunity to have Pallyan come to our school and share his knowledge. In Prep and Year 1 they learned the song ‘Wondit-Kundawa’, meaning ‘We come together’ as well as the names of several native animals. Pallyan showed the classes his possum-skin cloak, and students learned the cultural significance of wearing one.

5A were the first Year 5/6 class to have their Boomerang Throwing workshop out on the village green. The other 5/6 classes will have their chance with Pallyan in the next sessions. Everyone’s throw began to turn back around but it is clear we all need a bit of practice throwing boomerangs. Pallyan explained how returning boomerangs are only found in Australia and have been dated back to appearing around 10,000 years ago!

We also learned about bush medicines and cooking techniques for the vast array of traditional food. Some of the stand out questions from students included; “How were new words for new things communicated to other members of the tribe if they were far away?”, “What happened if someone was allergic to the food?”, “How did people travel between countries?”. These questions sparked great discussions and in turn more questions.

Some of the words and phrases that we learned are:

Wominjeka – (Womin-dji-ka) – Welcome

Gudjinna – (Good-gin-na) – Hello

Burndap Barring – (Burn-dup-bar-ring) – Good Morning

Triganin – (Trig-a-nin) – See you later

Noon–Gudjin – (Noon-good-gin) – Thank you

You are welcome to practice these words at home. Over the following sessions we will add more phrases to learn and use at school and at home.

We are very excited to be a part of this program with Pallyan, and look forward to having him again in the first week of Term 2.

Noon-Gudjin, thank you.