Sociology Indigenous Culture Excursion

On the 20th of February, the year 12 sociology class of 2025 travelled to the city to explore the Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre in the Melbourne Museum. We gained deeper knowledge about the complexity of the history and cultures of different Aboriginal People in Australia. We discovered new aspects of Indigenous culture, learning how they felt and retaliated upon the first fleet’s arrival. We completed an interactive booklet, searching for answers to every aspect of the culture and history of Aboriginal Australians and were required to ask questions using the sociological imagination about whether or not the representations were culturally relative or ethnocentrism and the concept of material and non-material aspects of Indigenous culture. We then took a walking tour guided by the Koorie Heritage Trust which started at Federation Square and led to the Birrarung Wilam Aboriginal art installations. On the walk, we discovered the history and meaning behind Melbourne icons named after the Aboriginal language. We developed a deep understanding of the history of the Birrarung and the Aboriginal peoples of the Kulin Nation as we were guided through material concepts of their culture such as possum skin blankets and emu head boomerangs.

By Aaminah Brookman