Mt Tomah Aboriginal Cultural Excursion

At the conclusion of our Indigenous Youth Forum held on July 1st this year at Bankstown Town Hall, organiser Neil Trindall asked the participants to create a wish list of activities, programs and events that they would like to see happen in the future. Many of the responses focused on culture and tradition and learning more about Indigenous heritage.

As a result, the first event Neil has organised since the forum was the Aboriginal Cultural Excursion to Mt Tomah on November 19th. The purpose of this excursion was to provide an opportunity for Bankstown's Indigenous elders and young people to meet and together learn about Aboriginal culture and history.

A group of twelve students from local schools, three local elders and three supervisors piled onto a bus driven by the wonderful Mr Steve Waser, and headed to Mt Tomah. Card games, violin lessons with Neil Trindall and guitar lessons with Nadeena Dixon kept everyone amused on the journey.

Upon arrival, the group were greeted by their guides "Rusty", Clarence Slockee and Chris Tobin. Rusty then led the group on a tour of the beautiful botanical gardens, identifying many of the important trees and plants.

It was then time for lunch which consisted of a delicious array of sandwiches made by our Indigenous Youth Arts Officer, Neil Trindall (what can't that man do? Social work, face-painting, dance, violin...)

Lunch was followed by a presentation by Chris Tobin. Chris spoke about the history of Indigenous culture in the New South Wales area, the names and languages of the different tribes and where they were located.   The group was captivated by Chris's inspiring speech and we hope to return to spend more time with Chris.

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Many thanks go to Mr Steve Waser (Deputy Principal, Sir Joseph Banks High School) for driving the bus, our entertaining and informative guides and the students for coming along and making the day such a success.

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