In Prep we have been noticing the changes in the seasons and thinking about calendars. 

We’re sure you’ve heard of the four English seasons of Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn, but did you know that First Nations People have been following their own calendars for over 65 thousand years? 

First Nations calendars are based on the changes in the plants, animals and weather of the local environment, and the changes in seasons help each community know when it’s the best time to go hunting for different animals, collect fruits, gather shellfish, when to meet with other mobs and when to harvest materials for weaving and building. 

We learned about the people from Nauiyu/daly river in the Northern Territory. There are 13 seasons on the Ngangi seasonal calendar. 

The Ngan’gi people know that when the wurrmuy or spear grass is flowering, that’s the season of wudupuntyurrutu, a good time for gathering bush fruits.

When the wurrmuy seeds are ripe, and the Ayiwisi, the dragon flies, begin to hatch, it’s nearly the dry season and it’s a good time to hunt for fish like Barramundi. 

We decided to look around our school and see what is happening right now in our local environment on Melukerdee land. We are going to check every fortnight and make a calendar from our observations all year. 

Here are some of the things we noticed in March and April:

We found acorns - Malia

Some leaves are falling off the trees  - Milus

We can see grasshoppers - Fox

The leaves are a little bit different colours - Benny

The blackberries are nearly all gone here, but not at my house - Ged

Acorns are turning brown - Dev

The trigger plants have pink flowers - Violet

Purple berries - Monnie

The dandelions got flowers and seeds - Ellie

I wonder what changes you might see around our school if you start to look?

Jess Black and Emma Constantine