Today everyone had an awesome lesson in the aboriginal culture. We learnt about some of the native plants and which plants you can eat when they are ripe. Michael tried an unripe pigface (berry) and spat it out within seconds. “They tasted horrible.” The people who came down here to share their culture were Kylie and Susan. Kylie and Susan showed us a native plant which they used for soap. They showed us what they used to catch river eels and fish. They placed rocks around a funnel sort of shape and scared all the fish into a basket which is an ingenious idea. They did this by scaring all the fish and eels into the basket while they were splashing the water and making noises. Their funnel took over 10 years to make out of strong native plants because they selected them from different places. They told us the quickest way of making the funnel was to do it while they were sitting down at the camp fire and everyone would take turns making it. The girls told us which foods they’d eat at a ceremony. The Aborigines would’ve eaten abalone, eel, crayfish and mussels.  They told us about how different boomerang were used for different types of hunting, the long boomerangs were used to kill birds and come down from the tree. Everyone had a great time and enjoyed listening to Kylie and Susan and looking at the tools, basket, funnel and clap sticks.

By Michael - Wonthaggi SC and Annika - Swifts Creek School