This week, Class KB retold the Aboriginal Dreaming story of Mirragan and Guranggatch to create a new Photo Peach slideshow using the art from a school-created “big book” from 1995. The beautiful artwork is by Mrs Bagnell, with one mural panel by Mrs Martin.
Mirragan and Guranggatch
Then Class 1/2St retold the Aboriginal Dreaming story of The first sunrise, with art from another school-created “big book” made by Mrs Bagnell, this time from 1994.
The first sunrise
It’s an obsession! Despite resisting the urge to keep buying new puppets for the library. I found myself in need of a sheep puppet for next term at school, and yesterday I went back to find their last one. The bargain shop also had giraffes. The galah (it squawks!) and spotted quoll puppets were more expensive, from the local ABC Shop.
The bargain shop had two no-necked giraffes left, so I have just combined two into one, to give my giraffe an appropriately long neck. A bargain-priced wooden paper-towel holder was disassembled and the stick glued inside the giraffe’s head. The original body “glove” was glued and wrapped around the wooden stick, then the beheaded body was sewn to the base of the resulting long neck.
(Above left) Customised puppet-to-be: I hope to create a bat puppet from the spare giraffe’s head on a $3 spotty Dalmation dog puppet’s body. Yet to be dyed brown or grey. I’ll need some felt for the wings, and some sharp white teeth.
(Above right) Another dog puppet from the $6 range.
Our Early Stage 1 and Stage 1 students are about to start studying a Dreaming story, “Mirragan and Guranggatch”. In the Aboriginal story, set in the area around Jenolan Caves, Mirragan is described as “a giant cat”, but the animal that European settlers called a “native cat” is now more commonly called a quoll.
Youtube has several chuditches, quoll-like marsupials, including this clear footage:
Stop Press: 2nd August – Don’t you just love serendipity? I found this today during a visit to Sydney Wildlife World, at Darling Harbour. They had a real spotted quoll, too, in their nocturnal section:
