Invitation to join the 2014 Mungo Youth Project
DART Connections Video Conferences from the dunes of the
ancient Lake Mungo in Outback Australia
Wednesday March 26 and Thursday March 27 - 4 sessions
Schools are invited to register and join the 2014 Mungo Youth Project
video conferencesfrom the desert of far western New South Wales.
Session 1:Welcome to Country Ceremony
Date:Wednesday March 26th
Time:1pm Eastern Australian Summer (daylight savings) Time
Duration:45 minutes
Audience:Grades 3-12
Limit:20 Schools
Cost:FREE
Bookings:
Pre session
information:
(excellent animations of Mungo’s geological history and short videos of
Elders who are culturally linked to Mungo. See Downloads at bottom of the page)
The desert landscape of Lake Mungo is a meeting place for 3 Traditional Tribal Groups.” Mungo” is also an archaeological site of world importance. The dunes and dry lake beds of the Mungo area have offered up evidence of human ceremonial burials dating back 42,000 years, skeletal remains of mega fauna such as Diprotodon (giant wombat), Sthenurs (giant kangaroo) and Genyornis (giant flightless bird) are common finds. Shell fragments from the Genyornis eggs litter the dunes.
The video conference will open with didgeridoo music played by Uncle Roy Kennedy on the ancient dune. We then join the Welcome to Country Ceremony including the smoking ritual. Elders from the 3 traditional Tribes will each welcome us to this sacred place.
Elders from the Paakinji, Ngyiampaa and MhuttiMhutti tribal groups will then each speak to the video conference audience about Mungo, its importance to them and how important it is for young Indigenous people to know their history and relationship to the land.
Question and answer.
Session 2: Student presentation by Menindee Central School and Lindfield Primary School Sydney
Date:Thursday March 27th
Time:9.20am – 10.10am Eastern Australian Summer (daylight savings) Time
Duration:50 minutes
Audience:Grades 5-8
Limit:10 Schools
Cost:FREE
Bookings:
Pre session
information:
Student presentation by Menindee Central School and Lindfield Primary School Sydney.
Meet local indigenous students and hear about their investigation into the links between language and identity.
The session comes to you live from Mungo. Students will present their project to you.
Question and answer.
Session 3: Presented by Irymple Secondary College “Fossil Footprints. What was life like in ancient Mungo?”
Date:Thursday March 27th
Time:11.25am-12.20pm Eastern Australian Summer (daylight savings) Time
Duration:55 minutes
Audience:Grades 3-9
Limit:10 Schools
Cost:FREE
Bookings:
Pre session
information:
The session comes to you live from Mungo. Students will present their project to you. Photographs will be presented of the famous claypan footprints left by a family during the Ice Age 20,000 years ago.
Early life at Mungo was shared by curious mega fauna now long extinct.
Question and answer.
Session 4: Presented by Dean Kelly to Mildura Primary School.Treescapeworkshop “Traditional Weapons and Cultural Activities”
Date:Thursday March 27th
Time:2.05pm – 2.50pm Eastern Australian Summer (daylight savings) Time
Duration:45 minutes
Audience:Grades 5-8
Limit:10 Schools
Cost:FREE
Bookings:
See traditional spear making from the dunes of Mungo while Dean Kelly tells the important cultural stories that are told while weapons and cultural items are made. Dean’s stories not only focus on the spears but the direction we should take in life and the choices we make.
Opportunity for question and answer.