Year 8,9 and 11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students were invited to attend an Indigenous Culture Camp from May 13^th – 15^th. The experiences were rich and the students were amazing. Thank you to the brilliant staff at Calperum Station. We learnt so much.

   In the mornings and afternoons, we would drive to a location and check the traps called Pitfall Traps. The reason for these traps is to see how many species of animals are in the area. The way the traps work is; there is a piece of wire and netting covering a distance in a straight line with buckets dug in and their tops just above ground at regular intervals. When a creature, reptile or insect walks along the line it will eventually fall into the hole, then we can study them and release them. Calperum has over 90 Pitfall Traps over the site. Once a year, normally in the warmer months of October or November, they make big ones and collect and record the data. Skye and Lachlan

   We randomly made 1m by 1m squares and put pegs down at the corners, then collected scat and identified it. Echidna scat is shiny because of the ant shells that they eat, it has no vegetation in it. A wombat scat is a cube shape. We recorded that data to help Dr Heather Neily with her research to see if branching helps the animals to stop eating the vegetation. There are large amounts of overgrazing, for example from the over 3 million feral goats in Australia, that’s why they are looking at different methods such as branching to help plants grow and to tackle the issue. Lara, Alan, Kohen and Faith

   We walked 5km along the river and learned about the ring and canoe trees and how the Ancestors of the Murray cut the wood out of the trees for bowls and canoes. We also saw the clay oven. We learnt more about our culture and the links between STEM and our culture. We learnt more about boomerangs and how Aboriginal people used fire to help make them and dents on the back to help it return. Richard and Jack

   I enjoyed the Indigenous walk we went on because it helped us learn things we didn’t know. I learnt that you mustn’t pick up rocks from the floor, they may be ancient bones. The canoe tree was very interesting to me because I didn’t know what it was before. Tiara

   I enjoyed going for a drive to do Pit Fall Trapping and how to smoke myself with leaves after going to a spirited place. The basketball hoop needs to be fixed. Richard

   I enjoyed the night walk and Pitfall traps, also the walk and learning the history. I like how the staff were easy to talk to and provided fun facts about the history or the plants. I learnt the rules of UNO and also that canoes can last last up to 100 years from the River Red Gum. Kalyssa

  During this camp I learnt what a symbiotic relationship is and about different types of trees, like Black Box (wamping willow) and Acacia Coobah. I also learned how to make a boomerang. I was devastated that we didn’t see that many animals in the Pitfal traps, my boomerang didn’t work and we didn’t see any possums at night. Kohen

  I learnt to throw a boomerang better from Daniel and the rangers. The campfire was nice and warm. I didn’t know what Daniel was doing with the smoking leaves but I do now. It was hard walking the 5km and sanding the boomerang. Jack

 On this camp I learnt a lot about the culture of Aboriginal people in the Riverland from the past and how they lived and gained resources – trading with other Indigenous Australians, as far away as the Flinders Ranges. This surprised me a lot, and I was immediately interested. I learnt about canoe and ring trees and the currency and economic structure of local Aboriginal people. Unfortunately, in the mornings and afternoons when we checked the Pitfall traps it wasn’t very organised, and people were rushing to check the traps while others missed out. Lachlan

  Throughout the camp I really enjoyed getting to know some of the year 8’s a bit better and also getting to learn about the different kinds of scats that animals leave behind and also what a wombat hole looks like. I learnt that the rings in the tree trunk, like inside the tree show you how old the tree is. Lara

  I liked making boomerangs and checking the Pitfall traps for animals, but I didn’t like looking at the herbivore density in the scats. I learnt that the rings inside of a tree trunk show how old the tree is. Faith

  I enjoyed making the boomerang so that I can now make more at home with my sisters. I also enjoyed the 5km walk because I learnt all about the ring trees and canoe trees and what the ovens were. I can also recognize scat.   Alan

I enjoyed the animal traps because we got to see all sorts of animals, like scorpions and lizards. I didn’t know that Calperum used to be a sheep station. Skye

The symbols on this boomerang I painted are about the night walk we did.

and also show the stars we saw.