Mercy Care Ballajura’s Acknowledgement of Country captured with stop motion technology

Mercy Care Ballajura educator,  Rachel Teraci, has taken time to use stop-motion techniques to capture the children’s Acknowledgement of Country which has become a regular practise within the service.

Ms Teraci wanted to find a special way to pay respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, heritage and history, and created the video during National Reconciliation Week.

“The Acknowledgement to Country is strongly embedded in our Koolbardi toddler room,” she explained. “It was a good opportunity to reflect on a current practice and what it means to us.”

Acknowledgement of Country is one of the many ways in which the service strives to engage and connect the children to Aboriginal culture.

“It is something that is becoming more embedded in everyday society and we want to reflect that in our curriculum as well and build on that familiarity of culture and recognition,” Ms Teraci added.

The children within the service now share the wording for the Acknowledgement with others, and the words are a strong part of the service identity. 

Children’s voices feature prominently in the video, which was filmed on separate days during Reconciliation week, with the children focusing on a new element each day to put together the content.

“We worked through each line of our Acknowledgement to Country and presented it in a sensory or creative activity. The “land” and “sky” element was curated as a loose parts tactile exploration,” Ms Teraci shared.

The Acknowledgement wording is: 

This is the land,

This is the sky,

Here are my friends,

And here am I.

On Whadjuk land we stand,

Taking care hand in hand. 

To view the video please see here.