Last week Room 20 were fortunate enough to have Shayla’s Nan come and speak to us about her Aboriginal heritage and her life. Nan explained to us that she was a part of the Larrakia mob in the Northern Territory. She spoke to us about the importance of keeping Aboriginal heritage alive and how important reconciliation is for her.

 She did a small smoking ceremony to welcome us, like you see at the AFL matches. She talked about Aboriginal ceremonies, and she explained that women would normally use the dancing sticks and the men would always play the didgeridoo. We learnt that the woman was never to touch the didgeridoo.

 Nan also talked about the Aboriginal flag and what the colours meant. The yellow circle in the middle represents the sun, the red represents the ground and the black is the people. Nan said that she was so proud that our school puts up the Aboriginal flag each day and that we have learnt the words ‘Niina marni?’ – how are you? and ‘Marni’ai’ – I’m good.

 When Nan was younger, she went to a Catholic school which was run by nuns. They were not allowed to speak their language so she never learnt her traditional language. Over the years she said that she has experienced some racism but she is trying to share her story to teach us the importance of acceptance and working together.

 It was a wonderful experience and we were so grateful to have her come and speak to our class.

 By Lily Launay and Luca D’Ambrosio