PHOTO: Talitha Annuscheit and Sam Whyte get into the mood by decorating boomerangs at the Big Deadly Day Out in Mansfield last Wednesday.

Mansfield Courier

By RICHARD JAGO

STUDENTS from secondary schools and other indigenous networks from the Koorie community attended the special celebration day in Mansfield last Wednesday [1st June]. As many as 110 people, mostly students, were bussed into Mansfield from surrounding regions such as Seymour and Wallan for the one day event billed as a Big, Deadly Day Out.

Major sponsor, GOTAFE, used the occasion to present three trades: hairdressing, automotive and construction. This popular focus let students try their hand at the trades and ask any questions about possible employment there and the preparation required.

Central Ranges LLEN chief executive officer, Boyd Maplestone, said the day was all about young people being able to identify themselves as indigenous and feeling comfortable about it in the wider community.

The day is not just about identification with the culture and feeling good, he said. The broader goal is to encourage these young people to complete year 12 or its equivalent, which itself is part of the national education target to achieve 90 per cent year 12 attainment.

This will give them a better chance of transferring into further education, TAFE or university and a better foundation for employment. The celebration day is one strategy to achieve this.

Also of great interest to attendees was the Melbourne Museum segment, where Koorie artefacts, possum skin coats, boomerangs, digging tools and shields - could be touched and handled in interactive workshops. This allowed the students to familiarise themselves with hardware items of their culture and ask questions about them.

Member of the Taungurung community, Bernadette Franklin, is rich in local culture and held a display of of local indigenous interest and also spoke with young people.

Moving around between the seven activities/workshops gave attendees a greater feeling for the breadth of the Koorie culture.

Organisation of the event was helped considerably by Suzie Roberts and Tandy Annuscheit, who worked tirelessly to help ready the Big Deadly Day Out.

For more information click on the Central Ranges LLEN Indigenous Pathways page