This week I attended the Marrung 2026-2036 First Nations Education Strategy Roadshow in liu of my boss who was booked. I love representing the Ballarat Tech School at events like this, I’m proud of the work we do and find talking about our impact easy and quite joyful. This room was no different, especially because all of the awesome KESOs (Koorie Engagement Support Officers) I work with on Koorie Motion Lab were there and stoked to see me. 

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Koorie Motion Lab is a fantastic program we run with support of the Department of Education’s Koorie Education Workforce, Federation University Aboriginal Education Centre, VAEAI and the local community. Its main purpose is to bring Year 6 and 7 indigenous students together linking primary and secondary schools so that mob know a few friendly faces when they start high school the following year. 

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Hosting this event at the Tech School gives us the opportunity to bring all of our awesome resources into the two day program. We have laser cutting, VR, drones, food science all woven into a program that is designed by mob, for mob. Last year we had boomerangs with Uncle Peter and this year we are making Marngrook (possum skin footballs). 

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There is an energy and vibe that is unique to Koorie Motion Lab days. It starts when Shannen Mennen, the Traditional owner who is such a huge part of the program, performs a welcome to country. This year she did a water ceremony because Fed uni freaked out about a smoking one. I’d never seen a water ceremony before and it was new to some of the students as well. I felt privileged being part of the experience. When a traditional owner welcomes people to their land and most of the people surrounding you are from mob’s all over Australia, I can feel the weight of it. You get a glimpse of a meaningful tradition that has been happening for tens of thousands of years. 

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Koorie days at Tech School feel more important to me. Not only is it a place of learning but it becomes a space where knowledge is passed on from one generation to the next. We have lots of adults in the space to hang out with students and the whole two days are treated like a massive yarning circle. It's about connection.

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The Tech School does this well regardless of whether you're indigenous or not but these days are special. I’m proud of them and I was proud to be sitting alongside Mob at the Marrung road show. Marrung means ‘together’ and this ten year strategy is building upon the 2016/26 strategy. It’s designed to guide how education services work with First Nations students, families and communities. It aims to ensure culture and identity are valued, voices are heard and every student is supported to thrive.

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Ultimately Mob should be proud of who they are, where they come from and feel empowered by their story. A story that has unbelievable sadness. As a pakeha, I can’t begin to imagine what this feels like but I can see the devastation that it caused. Everyone can. It's such a huge painful part of Australian history but the majority of people don’t know what to do with it so they don’t do anything. And for a long time, people have become comfortable with inaction. 

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This is my personal observation and I’m not writing to offend but I honestly think that people just don't care. How can they when there are very little tangible parts of a culture for them to care about. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander make up 3.8% of the population. More people identify as being Chinese, German or Scottish. Yes, Mob are the traditional owners and this is the most obvious place of recognition, hence the ‘acknowledgment of country’ but other than that, there is probably not a lot of thought given to indigenous culture by a non-indigenous person in their day to day life. 

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Another observation is that we tend to bring indigenous students out to do cultural activities rather than bring cultural activities into the classroom for everyone. This is what we do with Koorie Motion Lab - it's awesome because of it but it would be amazing if other students could experience the program. This would help create a deeper connection between indigenous and non indigenous students. Much like what has happened in NZ. I appreciate that we are dealing with vastly different population sizes and culture, but NZ has embedded Maori culture into everything.

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Catching the train in Auckland the other day, all the stops were announced in Te Reo Maori then in English. All teachers registered in New Zealand must sign a declaration stating they are committed to developing and practising te reo me ngā tikanga Māori (Māori language and protocols) throughout their career. With 17.5% of the population identifying as Māori the influence is strong and New Zealand is better for it. 

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There is so much work to be done. Sitting with mob and listening to the struggles they have when creating safe spaces in education for young indigenous kids was sad. There is still so much racism and an ‘us vs them’ mentality. When we take indigenous students out of mainstream class to connect to culture in something like Koorie Motion Lab, we are unintentionally added to that notion. 

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The task of embedding an entire culture that has many nations with different lore into an incredible rigid educational system in a meaningful way feels impossible. Yet I struggle to see how else we can close that gap without giving people a reason to care about it. I feel incredibly privileged to work alongside Mob in creating a program that empowers their young ones. My kiwi roots have primed me to see beyond those things that set us apart and focus on the parts that bring us together. I’ve spent time learning about indigenous culture because it's important to me. One of the most impactful books I read was The Dreaming Path by Paul Callaghan which explains indigenous thinking in a modern context. It’s about balance. Not taking more than you need and letting things grow and recover. It's about caring for country and everything in it. I think this will resonate with anyone who wants to leave the world in a better place for future generations.