The Cultural Garden outside the Language Centre was a hive of activity today with students from BSSC’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander program involved in two different activities aimed at culturally enhancing the area, enriching culture and building their skills.
This morning, students studying a school-based apprenticeship or traineeship completed the Horticultural component of their course by planting native grasses that can one day be used for weaving.
This afternoon, a group of past and present BSSC students, Koori Education Support Officers Simon Briggs and Renee McCaig, and Samantha Charvatt from the Victorian Aboriginal Education Association, painted a mural on the walls of the Language Centre using natural ochres collected on Dja Dja Wurrung Country.
The range of natural ochres, sourced by Simon Briggs, ranged from whites and yellows, to reds and browns… even purple. They were found on sites all the way from Epsom to Castlemaine.
The idea for the mural was first put forward by former BSSC student, Michellie Charvat, now studying a Bachelor of Creative Arts student at La Trobe University Bendigo. Michellie, who graduated in 2017, was back at the college today, overseeing the project and encouraging the artists in their choices of colour and design.
Michellie will soon begin a new role as a Koorie Education Worker at St Therese’s Primary School.
The finishing touch to the Cultural Garden will be burning the names of the Victorian Aboriginal language groups into redgum sculptures that are a feature of the garden.
