By CASEY NEILL
Noble Park students got a true taste of life in an Indigenous community in Far North Queensland.
Thanks to support from Rotary Club of Noble Park, the school sent two teachers and six students on the week-long trip to Yarrabah during April.
Principal David Rothstadt said that for some time he’d been working with Yarrabah State School, located just outside of Cairns in one of Australia’s largest Indigenous communities.
“I went up there and worked with their principal. Some of their teachers came down to see what we were doing. Some of our teachers went up there,” he said.
Mr Rothstadt then floated the idea of a student exchange, knowing it would put a strain on the school budget.
“I was pretty determined for us to have a crack at it,” he said.
Rotary put up more than $6000 for the trip and “that made it very, very easy for us”.
“We had to have a selection process. The kids had to write about why they would be interested in going up to Far North Queensland and learn about Indigenous culture,” he said.
The students spent two and a half days attending classes at Yarrabah and “got a sense of what another school system was like”.
They had a day of fun at Kuranda’s Skyrail Rainforest Cableway and an Indigenous culture interpretation centre.
“That was pulling together some of the concepts that the children were learning along the way,” Mr Rothstadt said.
The students returned to the classroom on their final day in Yarrabah and visited sacred land.
“We got stories about how the lands were formed, using the dreaming stories and hearing how all of that transpired, and also lots of interpretations of the flora and fauna and how different things are used for bush tucker and bush medicine,” he said.
“The notion of drinking out of a bush cup made from a leaf was an interesting experience for them.
“Licking an ant’s bum for the flavour was an interesting enterprise!”
Mr Rothstadt said the students – all from different multicultural backgrounds – forged authentic relationships with the Indigenous students.
“They just shared their stories about being kids,” he said.
“I think the advantage of getting kids together at that age is that while they’re all different in appearance, kids are the same the world over in terms of what they want out of life.
“Kids tend not to see colour.”
Mr Rothstadt is hoping to return the favour and host six students from Yarrabah later in the year.
To contribute to the visit, call Noble Park Primary School on 9546 8811.
