The Elders sat under the sparkling pearl stars on the dark, misty and gloomy night. All the Elders spoke about their worrying concerns of the everlasting dry season upon them. Oh, how they wished for rain and water to replenish their dry, desolate and cracked land. As one of the Elders paced around the crackling embers of the fire, he stared deeply into the dark sky and came up with a solution. All of them would dance and ask Mother Earth to bring rain filled clouds and downpour onto them and the land.

So off they went to gather the people from the neighbouring tribes. They would dance together to share their hopes for the end of these relentless rainless times. They put splashes of paint on their bodies with cultural designs representing their mob. The howl of the didgeridoo ringed throughout the lands calling for the water to trickle and further pour down.

Little specks of red dirt began to fly towards the sky, as they all stomped their feet with love, passion and rhythm. The heavy vibration was pleading and calling for Mother Earth to relieve their suffering, stress and pain. All of a sudden, an enormous bright beaming flash shot across the sky, followed by an Earth loving rumble that shook the dry desolate land. On they danced and stomped repetitively calling louder and louder, until one of the Elders felt a single drop of colourless rain.

All of the people paused to stare at the dark sky. Gargantuan dark, grey clouds gathered above the people, followed by white mist. They all held their trembling hands out wide, as they welcomed the desperately needed rain. At first, it fell steadily and softly onto the land but gracefully on their bodies. Minute by minute, the rain fell quicker and heavier as the drops became larger. Filling the dry, broken cracks of the crusty land. The land was revived for many days and many nights. All of the people from all over the land were overjoyed that the Earth was stronger than ever before.

From that day on everyone felt alive. With the land replenished, everyone was able to live freely again.

This piece of writing was written to reflect the devastating drought that affected Australia in 2019. We worked together as a class with our Aboriginal teacher, Mr Paul Fleming. Combining all our ides together we made a Dreamtime Story (Creation) based on this devastating time. Creating a Dreamtime helps us understand how and why things happened. The story that we made includes a bit of sadness at the start but a hint of happiness at the end. This was a very fun and educational activity as we learnt about droughts and how this had affected thousands of people. We wrote this to show that we all Care for Country and the importance listening to our Elders has in our world. This is something we make sure to include in our Acknowledgment of Country we say every morning and is our step towards reconciliation.

We all hope to do activities like this in the future so that we can show all our creativity to our peak potential and spread the message about how important it is to Care for Country.

Reconciliation means …caring for country and protecting culture. Protecting culture is important, as you know more and can teach other students and people.

Author: Janis Herrera and Rhea Prasad, Year 6