Last week was our final Strong & Proud session before being suspended due to our response to COVID-19. We will resume the program once it is safe to do so.

We ran the final session taking precautions and lots of good personal hygiene and social distancing.  The Strong & Proud group went to the Kalgan River for a cultural tour. Larry Blight told us how traditional Noongars lived and we all tasted some bush tucker such as youlk (bush potatoes) and meen (wild radish) which was really hot. We all quite enjoyed it. Larry also showed us how to make soap and that the soap was also a poison only to animals. It doesn’t kill the animals but just makes them very slow so Aboriginals could easily catch them. I was very surprised that many of the kids enjoyed the talking about our culture and learning new things such as how you can find different types of bush tucker.

The State government through the Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries is a major supporter of Strong & Proud program in the Great Southern with support from Heathway, Department of Education and local community groups. Sport and recreation builds stronger, healthier, happier and safer communities.

Ashleigh Woods

South Coast NRM – Aboriginal School Based Trainee