Dampier Peninsula Gone Bush Tour
In the July holidays, a group of Ivanhoe Grammar School’s International Baccalaureate (IB) students studying the new pilot course Language and Culture, along with five Year 10 students embarked on the trip of a lifetime to spend time on-Country with the Bardi-Jawa people of the west Kimberley region of Australia.
Arriving in Broome, the students were taken by Nyul-Nyul man, Robert Dann, for a cultural tour of the region. Students learned about Broome’s history, including slavery and the pearl industry, but Robert’s insights into bushfoods and medicines stood out most. The students learned how to identify numerous plants and fruits and enjoyed a banquet of bushfoods while taking in the first of many glorious sunsets on the red cliffs of Gantheaume Point.
‘We were taught about the Jigal tree, named after its back-to-back leaves, that represent the ‘back-to-back’ relationship between the son and mother-in-law who are forbidden to speak in Yawuru culture.’ reflected Henry and Cormac, Year 11 students.
Departing Broome, the Gone Bush team left for Sacred Heart School in Beagle Bay. As part of their Language and Culture course, IB students are studying Indigenous languages and language revitalisation initiatives. The Ivanhoe students saw firsthand how the Sacred Heart teachers are educating the next generation of Nyul-Nyul children in language and culture. The Gone Bush team’s arrival at the school coincided with NAIDOC celebrations; the Ivanhoe Grammar School and Sacred Heart students joining together in activities including spear throwing, net throwing, damper-making and painting.
Year 10 students, Queenie and Abby said ‘We all spent time painting each other’s faces. The patterns consisted of red, yellow and black dots across our faces with the Aboriginal flag on our cheeks.’
However, the Gone Bush journey took on a new dimension when the group arrived in Lombodina/Djarindjin. Upon visiting Christ the King School, the students observed and participated in Bardi language lessons with linguist and language teacher Vincent MacKenzie and Marlene Gregory. Enormous credit must go to Mena Manado, Vincent, Sharon Le Ray, Katie Grace and all the staff for the incredible work being done to revitalise Bardi language in the school and the community. The connection between the Ivanhoe Grammar School and Christ the King students was beautiful to witness and culminated in a high-energy basketball round robin at dusk.
The students’ time in the schools offered valuable lessons about Indigenous languages and fostered many friendships, but their on-Country experience brought Bardi language and culture to life. Led by Bardi-Jawa “bossman” Bolo Angus, the Gone Bush team learned key survival skills—finding water, food, making medicine and caring for Country. After demonstrations, students made spears and independently gathered bushfood, fished and crabbed. Over the course of four days, Bolo told us the stories of his Country and spoke its language. We learned how Bardi language is encoded in the leaves, bark, trees, bush, mangroves, crabs, fish, turtle, dugong, seascapes and rocks of the Dampier Peninsula.
After taking us by boat around the peninsula and the islands of Bardi and Jawa Country and naming the places created by the Bardi creator Galaloong, Bolo would share songs (ilma) about the reefs, islands, animals and freshwater streams that evening. The night of ceremony saw Bolo sing the movement of the waters and the clouds, the descent of the garrily (terns), ending with a personal dedication to Bolo’s grandfather who was jindibirr – the word for a willy-wagtail that indexes his skillful throwing of the irrgil (boomerang). As Bolo and his family sang, the young Bardi men danced around two fires deep into the night. We were enraptured by the singing and the dancing: we knew the Country where it came from.
‘I have been deeply impacted and have grown a profound appreciation for the Bardi Community. The openness and willingness to share knowledge and stories from the Bardi families was extensive and for that, I am grateful.’ shared Fin, Year 11 student.
Ivanhoe Grammar School cannot thank Bolo and the Bardi-Jawa people enough for their boundless generosity in sharing their language, culture, knowledge and ceremony. The inaugural cultural immersion trip to Bardi-Jawa Country has been a transformative experience for students of Ivanhoe Grammar School. They have returned home to Melbourne to reflect on their writings in their Language and Culture diaries and draw on their experiences to produce what promise to be inspiring autoethnographies for the Language and Culture course. However, this assessment component is a mere afterword to the students’ brief experience of ‘living Country’. As Bolo told us, ‘You must live Country, you cannot be taught Country’.
