4/5/24, 3:55 PM Narragunnawali - Caring for Country (Secondary)

CARING FOR COUNTRY

(SECONDARY)
OVERVIEW
In this activity, students will research the significance of Country/place to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Using
Bruce Pascoe’s Young dark emu, students are encouraged to become aware of and appreciate Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander contributions to sustainable Land management. They then explore ideas of how they too could help to care for Country.

RELATED RAP ACTIONS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY 

CARE FOR COUNTRY 

EMBED CROSS-CURRICULUM PRIORITY 

LOCAL SITES, EVENTS AND EXCURSIONS 

Relevant Subjects
Cross-Curricula | Civics and Citizenship | Design and Technologies | English | Geography | Health and Physical Education |
Humanities and Social Sciences | Science

Relevant Years
Secondary

Learning outcomes

In this activity, students:

• Strengthen their understanding of the concept of ‘Country/place’ according to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives.
• Reflect on what ‘home’ or ‘place’ means to them, their families and communities, and why it is important to connect with and care for
Country/place.
• Reflect on the role they and their school community can play in caring for Country/place.
• Develop an awareness and appreciation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander relationships with, knowledges of and sustainable approaches to
caring for Country/place.

Inquiry questions

• What is significant about the lands, seas and skies on which you live and learn? E.g. mountains, valleys, oceans etc.
• Who are the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which your school stands?
• Why is Country/place so important for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples?
• What does ‘home’ or ‘place’ mean to you, your family and the communities that you are connected to?
• Why is it important to connect with, and care for, Country/place? Why should caring for Country be considered everyone’s business, and for
everyone’s benefit?

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• What are some caring for Country/place practices your school community can commit to?
• How can engaging with the knowledges passed down from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – the world’s earliest scientists and
geographers – help to address some of the biggest environmental questions or challenges of today?
• What are some of the similarities and differences between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and ‘Western’ knowledges of, perspectives on
and approaches to sustainable Land management? How can these knowledges, perspectives and approaches work together in important and
positively impactful ways?

Activity

BACKGROUND

Caring for Country/place and looking after the lands, seas and skies on which one lives and learns is everyone’s responsibility. It’s important to
acknowledge that there are many different ways to take and share responsibility for caring for Country that may seem like small steps, but which
hold big significance. Learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in your local area about the Country/place on which your school
stands will help foster a deeper awareness and appreciation of how the longstanding and continuing traditional cultural practices of sustainability
can help to address some of today’s global environmental challenges, such as climate change.
As with all learning and action towards reconciliation, it is important to connect with your local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community
when it comes to learning about the environment and ecosystems that surround your school. With over 120,000 years of knowledge and
sustainably living with and learning from the Land, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – the world’s first scientists and geographers –
have much for students to learn from when it comes to caring for Country/place.

EXPLORING WHAT ‘COUNTRY’ MEANS

‘Country’, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Australia, is unique in the role it plays in shaping cultures, languages and
identities. Using the quote below and additional resources such as the Who We Are: Country/Place and/or This Land is Mine films, encourage
students to reflect on, and discuss, what some of the distinctions are between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ conceptualisations of
and connections to Country/place, and those of non-Indigenous Australians. How are they the same or different?
‘Country’ in Aboriginal English is not only a common noun but also a proper noun. People talk about Country in the same way that they would talk
about a person: they speak to Country, sing to Country, visit Country, worry about Country, feel sorry for Country, and long for Country. People say
that Country knows, hears, smells, takes notice, takes care, is sorry or happy. Country is not a generalised or undifferentiated type of place, such
as one might indicate with terms like ‘spending a day in the country’ or ‘going up to the country’. Rather, ‘Country’ is a living entity with a
yesterday, today and tomorrow, with a consciousness, and a will toward life. – Deborah Bird-Rose, Anthropologist
Drawing on the Languages map activity, as well as some of relevant resources included in the Narragunnawali Languages, Geography and/or
Science resource guides, break students into groups to respond to some of the ‘Inquiry Questions’ for this curriculum resource, and to research:
- Who are the local Traditional Custodians of the Land on which your school stands?
- What kind of environment is your school based in (e.g. what kind of flora and fauna are native to your local area, and what are some of the key
geographical features of the lands, skies and waterways among which your school is situated)? Are there any particular local sites of
significance?
- What are some of the traditional and continuing caring for Country practices used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in your local
area and/or across Australia, and what can your school community learn through these?
After supporting students to share their responses to the above questions, you might like to carry out the My Acknowledgement of Country
exercise as a show of students’ understanding and appreciation of the Land on which their school stands.

YOUNG DARK EMU RESEARCH ACTIVITY

Split the class into groups and ask them to explore how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures have contributed to one of the
following environmental management practices, as captured by Aboriginal author and educator, Bruce Pascoe’s landmark Young Dark Emu:
- Aquaculture
- Agriculture
- Burning practices
- Hunting
In Young dark emu, Bruce Pascoe uses multiple colonial journals to tell hidden truths about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’
longstanding Land management practices. In doing so, not only does he dismantle myths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
exclusively existing as nomadic ‘hunter-gatherers’, he sheds light on the diverse ways Aboriginal peoples have sustainably continued to live with
and care for Country for at least 120,000 years. To support this research activity, students may also like to explore ABC Education’s digibook
‘Bruce Pascoe: Aboriginal agriculture, technology and ingenuity’.
Upon competing their research, encourage each group to respond to the following questions to present to the class on an A3 poster or within a
portfolio:

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- Which environmental management practice did you research and what did you learn about the important ways in which Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander peoples and cultures have contributed to this practice?
- In what parts of Australia has this practice been demonstrated, and how/why? Use case studies and evidence to back up your findings.
- What impact does this practice have on the environment, and how/why?
- What are some of the cultural protocols that have been connected to this practice, and why are these important to acknowledge and respect?
(E.g. Fishing practices may involve protocols around only catching quantities needed to feed your family, or planting/collecting certain seeds and
shorts may only be carried out in accordance with particular seasonal indicators).

FURTHER ACTIVITY

Consider providing students with some practical opportunities for physically demonstrating respect for the Land on which their learning takes
place, in alignment with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander caring for Country priorities. Some suggested initiatives are included under the ‘Ideas
for Action’ tab of the Care for Country RAP Action page.

Curriculum Links

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM VERSION 9

• Years 7 and 8 Design and Technologies: AC9TDE8K04 – analyse how food and fibre are produced in managed environments and how these can
become sustainable
• Years 7 and 8 Design and Technologies: AC9TDE8K05 – analyse how properties of foods determine preparation and presentation techniques
when designing solutions for healthy eating
• Years 7 and 8 Health and Physical Education: AC9HP8M05 – participate in physical activities that utilise community spaces and outdoor
settings, and evaluate strategies to support increased use of these spaces
• Year 7 Science: AC9S7U02 – use models, including food webs, to represent matter and energy flow in ecosystems and predict the impact of
changing abiotic and biotic factors on populations
• Year 7 Science: AC9S7U03 – model cyclic changes in the relative positions of the Earth, sun and moon and explain how these cycles cause
eclipses and influence predictable phenomena on Earth, including seasons and tides
• Year 7 Science: AC9S7H01 – explain how new evidence or different perspectives can lead to changes in scientific knowledge
• Year 7 Science: AC9S7H04 – explore the role of science communication in informing individual viewpoints and community policies and
regulations
• Year 9 Science: AC9S9U04 – use wave and particle models to describe energy transfer through different mediums and examine the usefulness of
each model for explaining phenomena
• Year 8 English: AC9E8LE05 – analyse how language features such as sentence patterns create tone, and literary devices such as imagery create
meaning and effect

AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM VERSION 8.4

• Years 7 and 8 Health and Physical Education: ACPPS078 – Plan and implement strategies for connecting to natural and built environments to
promote the health and wellbeing of their communities.
• Years 9 and 10 Health and Physical Education: ACPPS097 – Plan and evaluate new and creative interventions that promote their own and
others’ connection to community and natural and built environments.
• Year 8 English: ACELT1806 – Explore the interconnectedness of Country/Place, People, Identity and Culture in texts including those by
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors.
• Year 8 Humanities and Social Sciences (Civics and Citizenship): ACHCK066 – Different perspectives about Australia’s national identity, including
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives, and what it means to be Australian.
• Year 9 Humanities and Social Sciences (History): ACDSEH020 – The extension of settlement, including the effects of contact (intended and
unintended) between European settlers in Australia and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
• Years 7 and 8 Health and Physical Education: ACPPS077 – Plan and use health practices, behaviours and resources to enhance health, safety
and wellbeing of their communities.
• Years 7 and 8 Health and Physical Education: ACPPS078 – Plan and implement strategies for connecting to natural and built environments to
promote the health and wellbeing of their communities.
• Years 9 and 10 Health and Physical Education: ACPPS097 – Plan and evaluate new and creative interventions that promote their own and
others’ connection to community and natural and built environments.
• Year 7 Humanities and Social Sciences (Geography): ACHASSK188 – Factors that influence the decisions people make about where to live and
their perceptions of the liveability of places.
• Year 8 Humanities and Social Sciences (Geography): ACHGK056 – Reasons for, and effects of, internal migration in both Australia and China.

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• Year 8 English: ACELT1806 – Explore the interconnectedness of Country/Place, People, Identity and Culture in texts including those by
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors.
• Year 9 Science: ACSHE157 – Scientific understanding, including models and theories, is contestable and is refined over time through a process
of review by the scientific community.
• Year 9 Science: ACSHE158 – Advances in scientific understanding often rely on technological advances and are often linked to scientific
discoveries.
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Narragunnawali: Reconciliation in Education acknowledges and pays respect to the past, present and future Traditional Custodians
and Elders of this nation and the continuation of cultural, spiritual and educational practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

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