Kids: Tijimbat Mural

This is the mural that the kids designed and painted towards the end of the 2013 dry season holiday program in Minyerri. It is now hanging up at Minyerri School.

Eamon: Just dance

I woke up sore this morning. It must’ve been all that dancin’ during our second last day of activities yesterday. While a few of the older girls in the program - Marcianne, Dorissina and Patricia - ran a competition to find English words and pair them with their Kriol counterparts, Jesse and I were enlisted as back-up dancers in our newest activity, appropriately dubbed, “Dancin’ Amy”. By the end we were all tired and weak but Lonely Boy and Gangnam Style never looked so good!

Then we challenged the kids to each build a watercraft out of two plastic cups, ten plastic straws and a small piece of plastic wrap. Their designs were so successful at holding up a handful of metal washers that I think we’re going to have to make it a bit more difficult for them next time!

Our final afternoon session for the program involved more art than you can poke a popsicle stick at: painting with frozen watercolours, decorating covers for the Teachabout Mix CD Vol. 4, putting the final flourishes on our awesome Minyerri mural and finishing off T-shirt painting for those who missed out previously.

A couple of hours for the Activity Leaders to rest, relax, eat and recuperate before we were straight back into it for a movie night with kids of all ages. The Sapphires proved to be a hit and the graciously-accepted homemade popcorn did not last long!

This morning we concluded the program with a sports day. The three teams – the Super Speedy Scorpions, the Wild Horses and the Angry Tigers – played several rounds of basketball and soccer before completing a few relay races to settle the scores. The Super Speedy Scorpions won the day through a combination of speediness and sportsmanship, although the other two teams certainly gave them a run for their money.

What better way to finish off a packed morning of sport, sport and more sport, than with a good ol’ fashioned barbeque? Well, maybe with a bit more dancin’.

Day 15: Sports Day

Marcianne going for goal. Plenty of atmosphere from the pavilion behind.

For some reason, Thesilannias brought an egg and a spoon to the silly hat relay.

Damien's sixth false start in a row. He saw the funny side.

The ever-smiling Gershom, even when negotiating an awkward crab walk relay.

Day 14: Floating straws and handprints

These straws were meant for making a water craft. Brittania thought that was silly.

Success! It floats!

Estherlita preparing a handprint for the mural.

Last chance for kids to paint t-shirts, with excellent results!

Day 13: Can you feel the water tension? That's science, not magic!

Beaded geckos.

Testing out water tension with a paper clip.

Floating water - science, not magic!

Posers on top of a rock at Renyin.

Amy: MacDonald and Renyin

Today started with the hope of a fishing and hunting trip for the boys in the program. Jesse had tried numerous times last week to organise this trip and today he was successful. The boys loaded into a troopie with Jesse, Daryl and our friend Trevor. After a quick stop at the shop to buy bullets, lures and a new billy, they were off to MacDonald.

Despite Trevor complaining that his game was off, he still managed to shoot a bush turkey. The turkey went on the roof and the boys continued their drive to MacDonald. When they got there, the kids dug a fire pit and helped Daryl make the fire. While the turkey cooked, the boys spent time fishing. Trevor offered up his expert knowledge to the kids. Unfortunately they didn’t catch anything.

Meanwhile, the girls had an action-packed morning at school with Rita, Erin, Eamon and myself.

Erin ran an invisible message activity where the girls wrote a message with lemon juice on a white piece of paper and then put it in the oven and watched their message appear. Myself and Rita taught the girls how to make geckos out of beads. The girls carefully planned their design and then, slowly but surely, learnt the techniques needed to form the gecko. Through a lot of trial and error all the girls completed their geckos and many turned them into necklaces, bracelets and headpieces.

Water tension was the focus in science with Eamon. The girls got to participate in many activities demonstrating the fun side of the concept. A favourite was ‘floating water’ where they filled up a plastic cup, placed an index card on top of it and flipped it over. The water looked like it was floating. They soon learnt it wasn’t magic, it was science! Realising the delicacy required to maintain water tension, the girls developed a game whereby they tried to get as far as possible across the basketball court before their water tension broke and they spilt all the water.

For the afternoon session we picked up the girls (along with many of the beaded geckos from the morning) and headed to Renyin. Renyin is a waterhole surrounded by rocky mountains. The kids love it because there are lots of rocks to jump off and the water is deep. During the drive to Renyin the girls taught Eamon and Erin some kriol words. We spent the afternoon relaxing, swimming, looking at birds’ nests, sharing stories and eating oranges.

On the way home we finally got the CD player in the troopie working and danced and sung our way back to Minyerri. 

Rita: Arabella the NAIDOC croc

On Friday, Minyerri was in the midst of NAIDOC celebrations. The highlights included football and basketball competitions and a big disco in the evening. The kids proudly showed off their NAIDOC t-shirts that had been hand painted by one of the organisers of the festivities. We spent the better part of the afternoon watching the girls’ basketball competition. The court was a hub of activity with women of all ages watching the game. Little children ran frantically around the painted boundary lines while the older women sat on the side chatting.

I am pleased to report that the Blackwater Cats football team, who are coached by our friend Trevor, won their first match. However, the Brisbane Lions (deceptively an all-Minyerri team) won the grand final.

On Saturday we revisited the Flatrock waterhole at Minamia accompanied by Hilda, Mary, Loris, Isobel, and a massive drove of kids. Eamon and Amy joined the women on their fishing venture while the rest of us swam and explored the rockpools. The kids spotted a goanna hiding in a tiny waterhole and spent the next hour staking it out, hoping to land the lizard. No such luck.

Between them, the four women returned home with 2 turtles, 13 brim and, most spectacularly, Mary caught a freshwater croc on her fishing line. The 1.3 meter croc was immediately given the name Arabella. Mary, a slender woman, outmuscled the croc. Later, she admitted that it almost pulled her in.

Sadly, Eamon and Amy didn’t score any lucky catches… although they did lose a hook. We had to settle for can corned beef damper.

On the return home we got bogged in sand at the bottom of a steep incline. We got out thanks to Loris’s expertise, using smashed up termite mounds to toughen the areas in front of the wheel.

Today was spent planning for our final week in Minyerri. We have planned a jam packed three final days. Spoilers – a boys hunting trip, a new activity fondly called ‘Dancin’ Amy’ and the big sports day.

Day 12: A giraffe, a rainbow and a rubber band guitar

Kelvin's liquid density column; honey, dishwashing liquid, water and oil.

A less familiar creature during a clay animal session. This is Gershom's giraffe.

DIY junk instruments (see rubber band guitar).

Every mural needs a rainbow.

Day 11: Pancakes and goo

Flippin' fantastic.

Worth the effort and the wait. Gershom was pretty happy with the final result.

Goo brothers.

Flubber gone wrong.

Kids: Johanan's stop motion story

Johanan loves writing stories and drawing pictures. So Amy turned it into a sweet stop motion flick to show his story to the kids.

Jesse: Bush gum and white ochre

This morning was characterised by backup plans, and more backup plans in case the backups fell through. 

The hope was that there would be a boys fishing and hunting trip led by some Minyerri men. The girls had their turn last week, tearing their hands up on spiky pandanus leaves. It was only fair that us boys had the same opportunity.

Alas, of the three men we were hoping would don an activity leader t-shirt for the day, one had broken a rib and was under strict orders to rest up, another was busy with an unexpected visit from an old friend and the third was nowhere to be seen. Both Eamon and Daryl were in bed with mysterious illnesses.

Two ALs down. No, worries. We had a backup day full of great activities, and the rest of us were feeling chipper.

I told the kids the story of the great David Unaipon, an Aboriginal writer and inventor who had an incredible knack for ideas. He’s also the bloke on our $50 note. The follow up was an activity in which each kid had to draw themselves on the $50 note and write a sentence about the cool things they’d done to get their face in everyone’s wallet.

Elizabeth wrote, “I am on the $50 note because I’m good at maths, reading, cooking, marbles, cleaning and English work.”

We watched an episode of Bush Mechanics, (which the kids loved!!!), and the kids tested their engineering talents on our Egg Drop activity. The kids designed, made and tested an egg protection vessel in an attempt to save their egg from a 3 meter drop onto concrete.

Minyerri is buzzing with anticipation for the NAIDOC week celebrations happening this Friday. We’re hearing things about basketball, football and softball tournaments, dancing, music and people coming from everywhere! There will be a great ceremony, with the dancers painting their bodies in white bush paint. So the afternoon session saw us back in the troopies searching for white ochre.

Hilda was one of three women who took us and the kids out, teaching them where and how to collect the bush paint. The first trick was finding the place. Hilda was sure we were going the wrong way, despite the convincing directions that were coming from the other two women. When we hit a (creekbed) dead end on an old bush track, Hilda was humble in her rightness. She found the right way pretty soon after she took the reins.

When we got there, the women were straight into it, hacking at the white ochre rocks with sticks and knives to break it up, keeping only the whitest, cleanest portions of powder in bags and old flour drums to take home.

Some of the kids had never seen the process before. Others clearly had. Nonetheless they all got right into the experience, collecting their own samples of powder. For the kids who began to tire of breaking up rocks, the natural progression was to cover themselves (and us) in the freshly acquired bush paint.

Towards the end of the session, the kids took the activity leaders out into the bush in search of bush chewing gum (sap from eucalyptus trees) and spinifex grass that we were to bring back to Minyerri to help Eamon and Daryl feel better. It was a really nice way to round out the day – with the kids being the teachers.

There’s a chance that we’ll get our boys trip in tomorrow. But today wasn’t too shabby for a backup plan.