A deep appreciation of the beauty of Tiwi
Harry in Year 11 reflects on his immersion visit to Tiwi College in 2023.
For me, Tiwi was the best school trip I have ever been on. Being with a group of 12 mates and then to be thrown into the Tiwi culture was a camp like no other. To be in and around the communities at Tiwi College and on the Tiwi Islands was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I will be forever grateful for having.
The welcoming and hospitable nature of everyone involved in the trip, from the college teachers, students, Tammy and Tippa, and the local communities made us all feel comfortable in the new environment of the islands and ensured a smooth running of the camp.
We were always full of good food and had lots of water whenever we needed it, keeping us energised for the big days of activities. Every day we were trying something new, which made the experience one of a kind. There were no complaints about any of the activities on the camp.
All the activities took us to new levels of understanding of Indigenous heritage and culture that so many people don’t get to experience. We were involved in rituals and visited historic settings where for thousands of years the Tiwi people have lived.
Whether it was walking through local communities on Bathurst Island, being at the local primary school or seeing Indigenous artwork and meeting the artists, fishing on beaches that are so far from urban life, hanging out with the Tiwi College students – it all gave me a deeper appreciation and understanding of what a beautiful place not only Tiwi is and their people are, but Australia is as a whole.
We have been lucky enough to do this trip through Scotch with our mates, and this trip has created so many strong memories for those of us in the Indigenous Partnership Program. They are memories that will be with us forever and experiences that we do not get to practice or do in our daily lives. We will now have the privilege of sharing these memories with so many people across our lives.
I am fortunate to have spent this trip with my mates, where our already strong friendships were drawn closer from the new experiences we were enjoying. In becoming closer, our experience on the camp was made even better than anyone could have hoped for. We were all able to make new mates from this camp in the students at Tiwi College, by being around their school life in the week that we were there.
A big thanks goes to Scotch and Tiwi College, Mr Glover, Mr Clark, Ms McCowan, Ms Morrison and Mr Butcher for enabling this camp to go ahead.
HARRY – YEAR 11
