This photo will remind you of the very interesting things Mark Bonshore told us when he visited our class a couple of weeks ago.
He showed us a map of the Noongar language groups in the South West and explained how there were many different language groups within that too.

He also talked about the Noongar seasons and how people used plants instead of a calendar to tell them when to move to the coast or away from the coast to the woodland areas, and what food would be available.  Indigenous life revolved around the environment and the people lived in close relationship with the environment.  They had to live sustainably (making sure nothing was used up or ran out in the future) and it was really important to keep the balance and follow the order of the cycle of the seasons.

Mark told us stories about the special creatures which live in the South West:

• the bream that only live in that particular waterway;
• the mullet who go temporarily blind as they leave the river to re-enter the sea – so the people were able to spear them easily;
• the purple python (Dreamtime Wagul) around Albany at the time of European settlement, which is now extinct;
• when the Sheoak Tree flowers, it is time to hunt kangaroos.  The kangaroos eat the flowers from the She-Oak Tree (which are poisonous if eaten by people), but the kangaroos store the special medicines from the flowers in the fat along their backs, so by hunting the kangaroo, people could eat the medicine from the tree safely too.
• The Ngari (Salmon) run which was the size of the oval from Perth to Esperance; and
• how indigenous people used to build fish traps to catch fish.

We could have listened to his stories all day, but now we have the chance to hear from him again.  Mark will be coming to share his culture and stories with us again on Tuesday at 12.10p.m.  😎