St Joseph's students’ Daly River immersion

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10 September 2018

Images of students from ST Joesph's College, Drysdale, on their immersion experience in Darwin.By Freddie Dripps, Year 10 student, St Joseph's College, Newtown.

 

The week after exams, myself and 15 other boys headed off to Daly River which is in the Northern Territory, approximately 2 hours 43 minutes south of Darwin. During the immersion we spent our time in Darwin, Daly River also known as Nauiyu Nambiyu and camping out bush.  While getting use to the beautiful weather in Darwin we went to a museum, a night market and also picked up our huge food order that needed to last the week, which we somehow fitted into our troopies.

 

Nauiyu Nambiyu was a chance to get back to basics and immerse ourselves in and learn from the members of this community.

 

Miriam and Agnes were just a couple of the amazing people we met in Nauiyu Nambiyu. They are two of the most respected elders in the community. There are always kids around Miriam’s house; sitting on the porch, playing with the turtles, inside watching TV, or listening to one of the many stories Miriam and Agnes have to share.

 

The best part of Nauiyu Nambiyu was just the simple things, sitting around on Miriam’s porch listening to stories, listening to dreamtime stories Agnes was sharing, kicking the footy with some of the local boys and strangely but best of all – was doing nothing. Just connecting with the place, people, land and environment we were in.  No pressure to be anywhere and no rushed timetable to meet. This experience has really taught me how to take a step back and listen, take it all in and appreciate some of the beauty and wisdom our country and its’ people have to offer.

 

Sitting around the fire and listening to Agnes’ stories about how echidnas got spikes, setting off the fireworks, interacting with the local community and children and spending the day at Three Dollar Creek fishing for turtles and sharks, were some of the amazing experiences we had.

 

The sense of community was evident from the moment we first arrived. Being baptised into country and given our Aboriginal names was a welcome that won’t ever be forgotten.

 

It was great to be able to experience hands on activities on the land, including going camping out bush. As a part of staying out bush we were able to go out fishing at Tipperary Station. We caught so many different things, turtles and baby bull sharks and we even saw some crocodiles. As a part of the experience we kept what we caught and had it for dinner in a big cook-up on the last evening. During this trip we were able to engage with the kids and learn about them and their life in the community, as well as the footy team they go for. We also played a short match of football with them which was great fun.

 

By going on this immersion, we were able to experience the calm, laid back life that the members of the local community embrace and learn something about the life and culture of Australia’s First People. It was a privilege to be part of such a small group as we all got to know each other really well. Cards, stories, long drives and plane trips and the shared experience of being away from home was a great way to connect with boys you may otherwise never have got to know.

 

Thanks to the Community of Nauiyu Nambiyu, Mr Parsons and Mr Wedding and our College for providing us such a great learning opportunity.

 

This article was originally published in the St Joseph's College, Newtown, website.