Anglicare’s Nerang Children and Families team facilitate cultural learning exercises called ‘Culture Time’.
During Culture Time, our Cultural Facilitators deliver a presentation to our staff about an aspect of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, accompanied by an informational fact sheet on the topic of the presentation.
Some of the topics covered in Culture Time have included:
- Plants and their medicinal applications in First Nations culture;
- The constellations and Dreaming;
- Holding meaningful and respectful cultural conversations with First Nations peoples; and
- The importance of dugong hunting and oil in First Nations culture, and many more.
Culture Time has proven to be an enlightening and highly valuable experience for everyone involved, as it not only deepens the personal respect and understanding for staff of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, but allows them to apply these perspectives in their work.
Our Nerang team believe that Culture Time is especially valuable because of its ongoing nature. It allows them to ask questions, be open with one another to share and work together to fill those gaps.
Not only is it important for our staff to understand the importance of cultural awareness for children and families who identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, but it’s also important for them to share this knowledge with carers of First Nations children. Our article, ‘The importance of Cultural Home Awareness for our carers’ explains this in more detail.
Originally written by Reconciling Histories intern, Gordon Chadwick.
Edited by Jenny Nguyen and Emma Newman.
University of Queensland, Advanced Humanities 2020.