Exploring our connections – the Dedicated Indigenous Garden and Sculpture (DIGS) project at Narrawong

After a big rebuild, Narrawong District Primary School will see another exciting transformation to their school in term four. Local artist Catherine Bailey and NGT’s Lauren Kivisalu are working with the students and school community as part of the “Dedicated Indigenous Garden and Sculpture (DIGS)” project.

During this project, the students will be exploring connections – the connections between local plants and animals, and their own connections to the local environment, to their peers, and to culture.

As part of the project, work will start this week to transform a small area of the school grounds into a creative outdoor learning space, featuring local native food and resource plants, and a series of sculptural elements including a fire globe.  The students will also be learning about connections in a series of workshops in their indoor, as well as their new ‘outdoor’ classroom. Catherine is helping the students to design artworks based on what they’ve learnt to be featured on the central fire globe and a mosaic paving area. As the garden grows the students will also be able to examine the features of iconic local plants and learn more about how they provide habitat resources for flora and fauna, as well as their uses by Gunditjmara people for food, fibre and medicine.

(Left) Students working on their flora and fauna designs in art workshops, (right) sample of student’s silhouettes to be featured on the school’s fire globe.

We look forward to sharing some pics of the new outdoor learning space as it begins to take shape!

The project is being supported by the RMIT University’s Helen and Geoff Handbury Fellowship program, as well as DELWP’s Coastcare program, Port of Portland EcoPort Grant, Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation, and local businesses.