Student reports on Girrakool and Bulgandry excursions

Woy Woy Public School student Deizel Douglas has written about a Stage 2 excursion to aboriginal art sites at Girrakool and Bulgandry on Monday and Tuesday, August 24 and 25.

His account appeared in the school newsletter Namalata on Monday, September 14.

"We learnt about the traditional owners of the land," he said.

"We learnt about their engravings and the tools they used like boomerangs, spears, axes, leaves, grinding rocks and volcanic rocks to make axes.

"They use wattle leaves for soap and they use the soap to clean themselves before going hunting so the animals cannot smell them.

"They also use the soap for a poison to stun the fish so they can catch them and eat them." Deizel said the students walked to a waterfall.

"We sat quietly and heard a frog.

"We also saw a brush turkey."

He said the aborigines lived sustainably.

"This means that there is enough for everyone."

"The aborigines lived off the land, learnt how to make fire, eat bush tucker, make soap and do lots of things using the local environment."

If they could not get what they needed in their own environment, they would trade with other tribes, he said.

"Aboriginals were the first people to make bread over 40, 000 years ago, before the Egyptians did."

Deizel said: "I really enjoyed this excursion."

SOURCE:

Newsletter, 14 Sep 2020

Lisa Mills, Woy Woy Public School