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Bunya Dreaming garden gives school wow factor by Marcus Priaulx here were no lights. There were no cameras. But there was a stack of action and engaging conversation as the Stewart family travelled from Wondai and Brisbane to paint under lights to ensure the Saint Mary’s Catholic College’s, Bunya Dreaming Garden was ready for its Reconciliation Week opening on last week. Their effort would have been more entertaining than many TV home renovation shows that fill our night-time viewing but it presented the garden with a true wow factor and a Dreaming Circle that catches the eye. In all, the garden took five years to complete. It was then the Kingaroy school, 240km west of Brisbane, asked its students to design a garden that would honour the traditional Wakka Wakka landowner’s and the school’s Aboriginal students. No outright winner was declared but the best aspects from the entries were adopted. How it looks: It now sits overlooking the Bunya Mountains in recognition of the triannual festivals that had tribes historically attend from all over southern Queensland.
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St Mary’s Catholic College Year 12 student Shania Stewart and school captain’s Matthew Guteridge and Sam Watson love the Bunya Dreaming Garden they helped the school build. Shania joined her parents Les and Sally and sisters Barb and Linda on weekends and nights to design and paint the garden’s Dreaming Circle. Image supplied
Six totem poles sit at the back to designate the six languages within the Catholic Brisbane Archdiocese. A curvy path lies in front of these to represent
the Wakka Wakka totem of the carpet snake. Native trees, bushes and grasses are planted on either side of the path but the centre pieces are the Christian Cross, painted
by local artist Niketa Law with an Indigenous theme that lays in the centre at the back, and the Dreaming Circle that lays in the centre at the front. Passion:
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