International Women's Day Excursion

Last Tuesday our class went to Howthorne Park at Ramsgate.The occasion was International Women's day Excursion.This excursion was organized by Migrant Resource Center(MRC).Some of us met with our teachers at TAFE at 9.00 am and the others directly went to MRC at Princess Highway,Rockdale.I met my teachers at TAFE.

At first we,the students who met our teachers at TAFE,started for MRC at 9.15 am by walk and reached at MRC at 9.45 am.Here we met with the other students of our class and many others.Some of the MRC employees introduced themself to us and told us some of their activities.After that we started for HowthornePark at 10.00 am by a bus.MRC had hired a bus for this excursion.In the bus,i sat beside one of my course mate named Mrs.Shayla.While we were in the bus,we were enjoying the roadside view and we were very excited about this excursion.We reached at Howthorne Park at around 10.30 am.

When we reached at the park,at first walked the green field and stooped under a tree.One of the MRC employee introduced us with MR.Max who is an an elderly Aboriginal.He told us something about their history and culture.After few words he started Smoking Ceremony.He told us that this is a part of welcoming of Non-Aboriginal people.After that he made the smoke by Lighting up a Fungi.Mr.Max also told us that this smoke would clean the surrounding environment and Non-Aboriginal people should respect to the Aboriginal people and their heritage.After the smoking ceremony we took some photos of us and we also took some photos of Mr.Max.

After Smoking Ceremony Mr.Max took us for a bush walk.Here we came to know about some native trees.Gum tree was one of the trees that we had learned that day.Max told that the gum of the Gum tree is a very good medicine for cuts and tooth problem.In the bush he marked some of the trees as Grandmother tree because of their structure of the branch.He mentioned one of the tree as Mother tree because it is the home for the habitats.The next tree was a dead tree and the tree did not have any leaf on it.But Max told that we should not call it dead because it can give us energy.We can get energy by burning up the woods from this tree.This time my teacher Marion had showed me two Palm trees and she told me that they were planted here on the occasion of the marriage of Queen Elizabeth.

After this bush walk we went to a hall room to see some of the native animals.Here we met Mr. Anthony who had showed us the animals.At first he showed us Ring tailed Possum named Blossom.It is a very gentle animal.He told us that they are vulnerable to cats.After this he showed us a bird named Tawmy Frogmouth.This bird pretends to be a branch of the tree.The next one was a Green big Frog.Anthony told us that this frog is with him for 26 years.The next animal was a Blue tongue Lizard.the tongue of it was blue.It can run fast and lives under the ground.The last animal was a Flying Fox or Fruit Bat.He informed us that most of the Australians do not like it because it poos every where.We took photos of all of these animals.

After this session we came back to MRC around 12.45 pm by the bus.After reaching MRC we saw thay had arranged some entertainment for us.They played some music and some students and some of MRC members danced on that music.Mean While the lunch had been served.We had enjoyed the food very much.Then we meet a lady Named Ms.Anna.She told us about her Experiences of first three years in Australia and her work.It touched my heart.At 1.30 pm we go back to TAFE with Ms.Marion by walk.

It was a very pleasant experience for all of us.We came to know about some of the culture of Aboriginal people and get some knowledge about some native animals and trees of Australia.