Students express Indigenous culture through art

The finished mural. 201197 Picture: ROB CAREW

By Romy Stephens

A cultural group at Yarra Hills Secondary College’s Mount Evelyn campus have recently finished a 10-month Indigenous mural project.

Students involved presented their completed artwork at a school assembly on 28 November.

Year 9 student Nathan Murray said the project was a big team effort between teachers and students.

“We began the planning of the mural in term one this year,” he said.

“We brainstormed ideas, sketched and drew up our ideas, prepped the board and sketched our designs onto the board, and then we began tiling.”

The mural aimed to express the cultural significance of Bunjil the Eagle and the Rainbow Serpent.

It also featured a meeting place, kangaroo tracks a boomerang and each of the students’ hands.

The school’s creative art therapist, Kirsten Sampson, said the project has helped provide recognition of the Indigenous community at the school.

She said it also helped bring students together.

“It’s been lovely because I think they’ve got to know each other. They’re all different year levels so that’s been great,” she said.

“They’ve got something they’re very proud of and it looks fantastic.

“It’s been their work and all their ideas.”

Yarra Hills Secondary College’s Mooroolbark campus also has a group of Burmese students working on a similar mural to present to the college.