Woorabinda Immersion

On Friday 25 October, 12 of our Year 10 students and four staff members headed out to Woorabinda after spending Thursday night at The Cathedral College in Rockhampton.

We were warmly welcomed by Sr Cecilia Prest, a Missionary Franciscan Sister, who has lived in Woorabinda for 22 years. Her role is to be a presence and empower the people through compassion and non-judgmental acceptance of everyone.

Uncle Milton, from one of the original Woorabinda families showed us around explaining the history and the sites of the town after he welcomed us to country. 

We began the day with a grounding ceremony and met a few of the locals. They were all extremely accepting of us in their community.  We even had one local who stopped to say hello but ended up joining us for the day.

Uncle Milton then took us to a traditional Birthing Site, out in the bush quite a way from town, where the babies were birthed right up until approximately 20 years ago.  There used to be a running stream where the babies could be cleaned after birth.  Unfortunately, this has since dried up, but the creek is still there.   Boys are not allowed to enter this sacred site as it was ‘women’s business’.  The girls were able to sit and meditate at this peaceful place for a short amount of time, which was for some quite a spiritual experience.

We also saw an old windmill that had been erected and dug out by hand by the people who had been relocated to Woorabinda against their will.  They had to dig through the rock, and we considered the discomfort they would have experienced, without any pay as compensation.

We left Woorabinda at 2.45pm for the long drive home.  We had a fantastic time and really appreciate the time both Sr Cecilia and Uncle Milton took to teach us more about Indigenous Culture and Spirituality.  We look forward to going back with another group of Year 10’s next year.

Mrs Cheryl Petersen
Campus Minister
petersenc@shalomcollege.com