On Wednesday, September 17, students and staff from Orbost Community College (OCC), Swifts Creek P-12 School and Cann River P-12, gathered in bright sunshine on the bottom oval at OCC for the second annual Nalloo Games.
The games were designed in 2024 with a focus on celebrating Aboriginal history and culture.
The idea was to develop connectedness
and belonging through physical activity, by learning and participating in a variety of Aboriginal games.
This year, around 80 grade five and six students participated in five games – Gorri, Burionjin, Inkanyi, Kaiwed and Woomera.
They were capably led by 15 year eight and nine students from OCC.
Each of the games were taken from the resource of ‘Yulunga’, in which Ken Edwards with the assistance of Troy Meston, reviewed almost every available account of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander games from all parts of Australia.
The concept of the Nalloo Games began last year when Lynnette Solomon-Dent the Koorie Engagement Support Officer (KESO) was asked about helping to teach some Aboriginal games in PE classes.
Lynnette included another KESO, Rex Solomon, and several games were then taught to senior PE classes at OCC.
The senior students then taught the games to students in grades five and six.
After learning the games from senior students, grade five and six students from Swifts Creek and OCC came together for the first Nalloo Games carnival.
Due to the significant difference in student numbers, and the focus on connection over competition, four teams were selected with each team including students from both schools.
This year the games expanded to include Cann River and Mallacoota.
In each of the schools, lessons about history and culture were held and students learnt about artwork, storytelling and the games.
Students were then tasked with developing a t-shirt design that tells the story about how they feel they belong in our area.
Eight designs were then chosen as t-shirts for each of the eight teams.
Through the design work, and by developing an understanding of the symbols on the students’ shirts, they have enabled their students to have genuine voice in their learning and cultivated curiosity about the history of their community.
One of the designs is from Swifts Creek and the story is from Siale.
He said, “Once upon a time people hunted kangaroos for clothes and to make shoes for their feet. They used these shoes to walk over the Flagstaff hill to find water. They would make canoes from the trees to travel down the Tambo River and catch fish to eat.
“They would hunt emus and wild pigs to cook over the fire. Today we still see emus and kangaroos in Swifts Creek. The stars still shine bright in the dark sky. With shooting stars and tall oak trees.”
Siale also wrote an acknowledgment to country for the day.
Along with Ruby Faithful from OCC, these two students opened the games with their Acknowledgements.
Principal of Swifts Creek P-12, Robert Boucher has a vision of these games involving all our schools in the far east and then rolling out to other schools.
He stated that “Sport is a great enabler for connection and through the collaboration of our four schools we are setting the students up for success and cultural understanding of their place. The games focus on our Marrung Aboriginal Education Plan objective of creating a positive climate for learning and development for our Koorie students.
“By developing understanding of our Aboriginal culture and history, we aim to help all our students feel connected to country and a sense of belonging to their school.”
