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Year 11 and 12 Fulfilling Lives
Year 11 & 12 Fulfilling Lives
After two years of a COVID driven hiatus, Year 11 and 12 students were offered the opportunity to travel to the Northern Territory to undertake a community service project and cultural learning.
The 2022 Fulfilling Lives trip to Lilla in Central Australia was a journey we will likely never forget.
Our adventure began in Alice Springs with encounters with snakes and crocodiles at the Reptile Centre and exquisite art installations illuminated on the West MacDonnell Ranges at the annual Parrtjima Festival. We travelled on our purple tour bus “Yummo” to the destination that was the objective of the trip, Lilla – an Indigenous community. As we arrived, we were smoked into country and welcomed by the local people. They took us on a tour of the sacred sites surrounding Lilla, including a birthing cave and a sacred waterhole. We also hiked the breathtaking Kings Canyon and spent two days helping the community with their food gardens and preparing the church and cemetery for an upcoming funeral. It was a privilege to give back to the people who shared their home and their culture so generously with us. Our final stop at Uluru\Kata Tjuta tied the whole trip together. We hiked Kata Tjuta, the Uluru base walk and learned the story of the Mala men and Kunia which were painted inside the cave and embedded into Uluru itself. But there were some ancient stories that weren’t meant for our ears. We learned that in Aboriginal culture, children must pass an initiation to be considered an adult, and gain access to all the stories, song lines and traditions of their culture. If they don’t pass, they will be considered a child forever. Most of us
visitors will never be permitted to undergo initiation and will be children forever. We will never have the deep understanding of Tjukupa (culture, tradition and law) and country that Indigenous Australians do, something we all witnessed in our time at Lilla. But an underlying understanding of the country we live on, and a connection with our Indigenous brothers and sisters is something that all Australians need. The journey gave us an integral understanding, and an honest connection that many people never get to experience. It’s something that we will carry with us forever.
- Takoda Ritchie, Year 11 Lilla was the experience of a lifetime. We were very lucky to be a part of the group of students
able to head into our backyard of Central Australia in the April school holidays. Our first couple of days were spent in the warmth of the capital Alice Springs, surrounded by the red dirt and the full starry nights while cosy in our swags. The trip then shifted along to Lilla, a small Indigenous community 242km out of Alice springs. The landscape was incredible and the people even more so.
- Olivia Bryant, Year 11
