Story Ground offers connection

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Story Ground offers connection

10/05/2024 | Faculty of Arts and Design

Letter to a tree

Dear Backyard Tree,

My dear, lovely tree. I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, mourning the pain you are in and hoping that our remedies are working.

Thinking back to when we first planted you, I don’t remember when that was, or even what type of tree you are. I do know that, wherever you are from, we planted you on Ngunnawal land. You belong to Ngunnawal Country now.

I too am from another country, up north on the coast but I call Ngunnawal Country my Country. I have grown strong here, met my life partner, had my children -  who are growing strong and leading their own lives - here, learned who I am here. This is my home and my house and garden is my Special Place within the many special places on this Country, this Ngunnawal Country.

You, my dear Backyard Tree, are also growing strong on Ngunnawal Country. I remember when you took to the skies and were growing so tall and strong, only for that wind to knock you down. We took drastic measures then, do you remember? We cut your branches off but left you a stump. We did not expect that stump to survive.

You took that stump and grew it into a trunk. You grew so many new branches and shoots from the stump that we celebrated how strong, how beautiful, how much of a survivor you were. We pruned some of your branches to allow you to focus on fewer branches that would grow strong; grow strong on Ngunnawal land, Ngunnawal Country.

Some years have passed and you have nurtured new life. You have fed countless birds and insects, sheltered countless birds, insects, lizards, frogs and plants. You provide structure and privacy for our backyard, helping keep it functioning as our home, our Special Place on Ngunnawal Country. 

But last year something happened to you and I am so, so sorry for that. Our whole backyard was remodelled, reshaped, replanted. Unfortunately that meant that your precious baby feeder roots were damaged. We knew that something was not right, as we could see the scale and the sooty mould, but thought you would be strong enough to beat those nasties on your own. Alas, that has proven to be not the case.

What we did do was to get expert advice to help you. We’ve reduced your canopy and cut away much of the diseased and rotten wood. We are keeping off your roots and giving you regular water. We hope that this is enough. Seeing those branches be removed was terrible but seeing how diseased they were was worse. The branches needed to come off.

Take strength from knowing you belong on Ngunnawal Country. Take strength from the strength you have shown before. Know that you are much loved and treasured. Grow strong on Ngunnawal Country as we have grown strong on Ngunnawal Country.

Karen Longmuir – Year 3 teacher, Harrison School
Story Ground participant

Story Ground professional development

Story Ground is a registered professional development course for teachers. It is Indigenous led creative writing workshops on Country, delivered by Paul Collis, a Barkindji traditional owner from Bourke and creative writing teacher at UC, and Andraya Stapp-Gaunt (Andi), Māori-Dutch woman from the Ngāti Porou iwi in Aotearoa, New Zealand and executive teacher with the ACT Education Directorate. It brings together Indigenous Story practices with the disciplines of creative writing and literature. But, it is also so much more. Story Ground is an experience of story, of attentiveness and support. A place where stories are held safely and dearly and are shared bravely.

Story Ground is delivered as a registered professional development course for teachers and a short course for secondary students to create creative works that reflect their engagement with Aboriginal ways of thinking, knowing, being and valuing.

Elements of teaching, researching and conserving culture are combined in this very different, Indigenous way of learning.

90 teachers from across Canberra have completed the professional development course, transferring their learning and experience to students at ACT schools which flows on to their families and communities.

97 ACT high school students completed Story Ground for high school students from 2020-2024.

Story Ground was conceived with UC researchers Jen Crawford and Paul Collis to explore how a non-Indigenous and Indigenous co-teaching space could work to open creative writing to increased Indigenous content and engagement. It took shape in community workshops and as Anthology, a published collection of prose writing, poetry and storytelling by participants. It evolved when Andi Stapp-Gaunt, a PhD student at UC, joined the journey. Andi was the essential link between UC and schools that took Story Ground into ACT schools.

“I chose to attend Story Ground as I am interested in developing my personal understanding of Indigenous ways of learning, particularly when it comes to concepts of connections to the land, connections to Country. What does Country mean to an Indigenous person? What does Country mean to me as a white person? What does caring for Country mean in practice for a modern Indigenous person and what can I learn from that?

Story Ground helped me develop those understandings. I'm still learning and always will be, which is part of what I learnt.

My experiences during the Story Ground workshops, but especially the homework our class was set by Dr Paul, struck a deeply personal chord with me. Paul asked us to write our own Acknowledgement of County. I chose to write a letter to a tree in my backyard. I sent this to Paul and he challenged me to write back to myself from the point of view of the tree. That process and the subsequent conversations I had with Paul remain deeply, deeply important to me. 

This was totally unexpected. I had expected to gain understandings that I could apply in my professional life but instead came away with - dare I say 'profound' personal growth and understanding.

I do apply what I learnt during Story Ground to my teaching. We acknowledge Country every morning. My students are all eager to have their turn at this. I use story telling as part of my daily pedagogy. I encourage students to think about their personal connections to what we are learning. Story, connections, history.”

Karen Longmuir
Year 3 Teacher, Harrison School

“Story Ground was a really important program, I am grateful for this opportunity and experience. My experiences during Story Ground have taught me many valuable lessons, taught in a way that didn’t feel like school or normal, boring, textbook learning.

Listening to the elders is one of the initial lessons/insights learnt, not because we are told so, but because of the wisdom, authority and respect commanded.

We were told to take care of the land, to respect it, and the land will take care of you, and this is something I still respect to this day.

When hearing stories of the land and the connection to it, we were quick to realise that these stories are of utmost importance and urgency and it is a misfortune more people do not know this of the land they stand on.”

Neeliya Gunawardena, Year 11 (pictured below)
Story Ground for High School Students Participant

“Story Ground was not what I expected upon enrolling. It is almost impossible to explain the experience. Paul Collis and Andi Stapp created a space that was a story that we, the students, became part of. The experience itself, delivered in stories and with connection, led me to a better understanding of indigenous culture, connection to myself, seeing the significant benefit of indigenous ways of doing and being in education and feeling an ownership of Aboriginal history and culture in a new way.

Story Ground was art, it was relationships, it was history, it was truth telling, it was magic. The concept that the 30 high school and primary school teachers around me during Story Ground were going to take that experience back into their classrooms gave me such hope for our future.”

Participant, Story Ground Professional Learning