Cultural Knowledge Stories – Combined – Transcript
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: Ochre Artwork
Cultural Knowledge Stories created by Dr Sue Atkinson
AM (Yorta Yorta) and read by Annette Sax (Taungurung)
Image Credit: Ochre Artworks by Annette Sax (Taungurung), developed in collaboration with Dr Sue Atkinson AM (Yorta Yorta)]
[On-screen Text: Dr. Sue Atkinson AM Author]
Sue Atkinson: I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land and waters that we are speaking from today, the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people, and their Elders, past, present, and emerging.
The Wurundjeri calendar is made up of seven seasons. I would like to thank the Wurundjeri Woiwurrung people for sharing their knowledge of these seasons with us and acknowledge their wisdom in looking after the land and waters in harmony with these seasons by being observant of the types of birds calling, plants flowering, the lifecycle of animals, and the appearance of the sky including the stars and the phases of the moon.
My name is Sue Atkinson, I’m a Yorta Yorta woman with ancestral ties to the Wemba-Wemba people. I have been involved in the Early Childhood field for 50 years, I taught across the preschool, TAFE, and higher education sector before retiring.
More recently, I spent 10 years as a volunteer on a variety of committees, including Action on Aboriginal Perspectives in Early Childhood, AAPEC. Currently, I occasionally work as a freelance writer, and at the moment, I’m working on the Victorian Early Years Learning and Development Framework, VEYLDF.
[On-screen Text: Annette Sax Aboriginal Early Childhood Professional Yarn Strong Sista]
Annette Sax: Wawa, my name is Annette Sax, a proud Taungurung woman, artist, educator and cultural storyteller with more than 35 years experience in the early childhood profession.
As one of the two VEYLDF artists whose work complements that of Aunty Dr. Sue Atkinson, Cultural Knowledge Stories, and the VEYLDF Ochre Artist and Designer, I am honoured to contribute artwork that reflects Aboriginal perspectives, identity, culture, and connection to Country.
My work is guided by the cultural knowledge and stories generously shared by my Taungurung Elders, with their permission to pass this knowledge on respectfully.
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: Ochre Mountain
Practice Principles - how educators work with children and families]
Annette Sax: Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow represent Aboriginal culture and partnerships with families. The water hole symbolises reflective practice; the gum leaves with their different patterns and colours represent diversity.
The stones underneath the leaves represent equity and inclusion. They reflect the additional support put in place to help all children achieve. The child and adults standing on Ochre Mountain symbolise the high and equitable expectations we hold for children and adults.
The family standing on and looking out from Ochre Mountain reflects assessment for learning and development. Such assessments draw on children’s and families’ perspectives, knowledge, experiences, and expectations.
The child and adult figures also represent partnerships between professionals. The land symbol as mother Earth represents the basis for respectful and reciprocal relationships. The symbols for land, water, and people signify holistic pedagogical practices based on connections to Clan and Country.
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: Scar Trees and Message Stick
Learning and Development Outcomes - what children learn over time]
Annette Sax: Gum leaves as bush medicine symbolise connection to wellbeing. The yam daisy represents the survival of a strong Aboriginal identity. The yam daisy was central to the diet of Aboriginal Victorians. It was almost wiped out by colonisation, but has survived.
The family sitting under the scar trees with a message stick and coolamon symbolises communication. The family seated on the land symbolises the child learning through their connection to and involvement with community.
A scar tree is also known as a canoe tree and is a significant artifact. Aboriginal people used the bark of the tree to make a canoe or boat.
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: River Stepping Stones
Transitions - how learning continues across settings and stages]
Anette Sax: The river stepping stones represent children and families in transition. The footprints and wheelchair tracks symbolise all abilities. Animal footprints show children and families walking proudly with culture in transition. Educators must engage with such pride in culture, with respect and authentic understanding, thereby promoting positive transitions.
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: The Fern
Cultural Knowledge Stories created by Dr Sue Atkinson
AM (Yorta Yorta) and read by Annette Sax (Taungurung)
Image credit: Robert Barnett (of Yorta Yorta descent) with Dr Sue Atkinson AM (Yorta Yorta)]
Annette Sax: The unfolding Austral Bracken Fern, representing learning and pedagogical practices shows us a spiral pattern that often connects humans to nature visually and emotionally. The unfolding fronds of a young bracken fern, as a spiral, represents the evolving growth of the child and their identity. The fern reminds us of child-led nature play as the basis of First Nations pedagogy and its growing significance in Western pedagogy.
The three adult fronds also serve as a reminder of the interconnection of all parts of learning, development, and culture. The way in which the fern adapts to its environment reflects how pedagogical practices shift and change in response to children’s learning dispositions, or habits of mind, and engagement.
This indigenous fern is significant to First Nations Victorians in its use as medicine and bedding. Taungurung Elder, Aunty Glenys Merry, took Annette Sax, Taungurung, along the Rubicon River and shared how our people layered the fern, alternating the position of the fronds so the ferns were thick like a mattress and used for bedding.
Aunty Glenys also shared that the bracken fern was used as an insect repellent. This intergenerational knowledge demonstrates our connection to nature.
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: The Yam Daisy
The Early Years Planning Cycle
Cultural Knowledge Stories created by Dr Sue Atkinson
AM (Yorta Yorta) and read by Annette Sax (Taungurung)
Image credit: Robert Barnett (of Yorta Yorta descent) with Dr Sue Atkinson AM (Yorta Yorta)]
Annette Sax: The yam daisy, widely known as the Murnong from the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung language, is used to represent planning, highlighting the complex and sophisticated process professionals engage in when delivering programmes for children.
The petals outline the various components which are all connected. Meanwhile, the yam which grows below Country symbolises the foundations and nourishment of the thinking that is needed when planning along the continuum. Connection to Country, kin, culture, and identity that First Nations people in Victoria have must always be considered.
These aspects should be at the forefront of professionals’ minds when they draw on their knowledge of child development research and learning theories. The yam daisy was a significant staple food for First Nations Victorians for tens of thousands of years, and is known by a variety of First Nations languages across the state. Women would dig up the yams with digging sticks and carry them away in dilly bags.
Through colonisation and the introduction of sheep, the yam daisy almost became extinct, as the sheep would walk on the daisies and compact the land, making it difficult for them to grow back. More recently, there has been a revival and recultivation of the plant, signifying the survival of a strong First Nations identity and culture.
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: The Woven Strands
Integrated teaching and learning approaches
Cultural Knowledge Stories created by Dr Sue Atkinson
AM (Yorta Yorta) and read by Annette Sax (Taungurung)
Image credit: Robert Barnett (of Yorta Yorta descent) with Dr Sue Atkinson AM (Yorta Yorta)]
[On-screen Text: Annette Sax Aboriginal Early Childhood Professional Yarn Strong Sista]
Annette Sax: This image of intertwined strands represents the interconnected play and learning approaches that inform early years pedagogy from a Victorian First Nations perspective.
Interconnected play and learning practices are evident and foundational in all early years settings for Victorian children. Local First Nations land-based pedagogies are important in the environmental and cultural education of all children with guidance from local First Nations community.
[On-screen Text: In adult-led learning]
In adult-led learning, women will weave in circles along with girls of all ages and young boys. In this setting, children would learn not only the techniques of weaving, but also the cultural knowledge and connection to Country it entails.
[On-screen Text: In child-directed learning]
In child-directed learning, children will learn informally as they explore Country. Weaving begins by gathering and preparing local resources such as grasses and reeds. This requires a knowledge of local flora, that is, where it is to be found and when.
[On-screen Text: In guided learning]
In guided learning, adults and older children will talk to young children about the flora around them, how it is gathered and prepared, and its uses, such as in weaving baskets, ropes, and nets.
[Gentle music]
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[On-screen Text: Cultural Knowledge Story: The She-oak, Deep Time and Country
Cultural Knowledge Stories created by Dr Sue Atkinson
AM (Yorta Yorta) and read by Annette Sax (Taungurung)
The Bioecological Model
Image credit: Robert Barnett (of Yorta Yorta descent) with Dr Sue Atkinson AM (Yorta Yorta) Bioecological Model adapted from the work of Bronfenbrenner and Morris, 2006, O'Keefe et al., 2022, and Elliott and Davis, 2020.]
[On-screen Text: Annette Sax Aboriginal Early Childhood Professional Yarn Strong Sista]
Annette Sax: When cut in a cross section, She-oak tree trunks have rings showing the bands of wood formed around the trunk over time. They also have ribbon-like cells, which run like rays from the inside to the outside of the tree trunk, carrying water and nutrients to promote trunk growth.
These rays can be imagined as illustrating the reciprocal interactions that occur across and between the systems. Deep time refers to time past, present, and future. Deep time is founded in the Dreaming or Dreamtime. The Dreaming refers to the time of Creation of all levels of Country and Lore. Lore is the spiritual and cultural knowledge that connects First Nations people with all aspects of Country.
Deep time continues today and tomorrow and is communicated in the Dreaming Creation stories and ceremonies, which are part of the intergenerational knowledges. The interconnections of time and place are complex and a deeply symbolic sacred component of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and identity.
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: How to use the model?
Early years professionals use the VEYLDF Bioecological Model to understand the multiple systems of people, places and interrelationships that surround each child in their unique ecosystem.
Knowledge of each child's individual position within the systems guides interactions with children and families, underpins planning for children's learning and development, and inform collaboration with families and other professionals.]
[Gentle music]
[On-screen Text: Dr. Sue Atkinson AM Author]
Sue Atkinson: Thank you for listening to my Cultural Knowledge Stories and connecting to Annette Sax’s, Taungurung and Robert Barnett’s, of Yorta Yorta descent, artworks throughout the VEYLDF.
[On-screen text:
The Education State
Victoria State Government Logo
Department of Education
vic.gov.au/education]
[End of transcript]
Updated