26 Jun 2014
Kindergarten and Year One students visited Fingal Heads Public School and surrounds as part of a cultural excursion to learn more about bush tucker. This term our Science unit of work, "Green Thumb" has focussed on exploring different varieties of plants, their uses and how they grow. We have conducted experiments, planted in the school veggie garden and learnt all about the needs of growing plants and the stages of growth.
Our learning in science has connected with various areas of Aboriginal Culture. In particular we have been discussing and learning about bush tucker plants that Aboriginal people ate in the outback. Our excursion to Fingal Head took us on a lovely walk through their dreamtime pathway where we saw many of these traditional food sources. However, our guide, Frank, taught us that there is a lot more to Aboriginal bush tucker than simply finding foods to eat. Many of the plants we saw were used as medicines, to make tools or to mark times and seasons.
Frank shared with us a number of very interesting plants. Our favourite plant to taste was the ‘sour nut' which tasted like lemons! We also liked tasting a number of other native berries that were not so sour! One of the most interesting plants used as a tool was the rough fig leaf which was dried and used as sandpaper to sand traditional tools and artefacts. Another interesting plant was the native hibiscus or cottonwood tree. The stringy bark from this plant was used like cotton and woven together to make rope and other useful items.
Frank also shared with us some local knowledge about how the Aboriginal people use plants to tell when certain types of fish will be in the river or when it is the right time of year to look for yabbies. The yabbies claws we held were HUGE!
We would like to thank Frank Krasner and Fingal Head Public School for sharing your knowledge and bush tucker walk with us. The students had fantastic time learning more about Aboriginal Culture and the ways they use plants in their traditional way of living.
