On Wednesday 25th May 2016, the Year Five students departed on their annual pilgrimage to the monastic town of New Norcia. The two hour bus journey was the last chance for the students to have some rest before they found themselves walking up to 15 kilometres around the township on various tours.

They were given a glimpse of monastic life through historical, bakery, museum and cemetery tours. Students also learnt about indigenous life, making ‘Mya-Mya’ tools with indigenous techniques, studied aboriginal artwork, undertook a ‘bushtucker’ walk, and listened to campfire Dreamtime stories.

As always the opportunity for students to throw spears and boomerangs proved to be the highlight of camp for most students. Local Indigenous elder, Lester Jacobs, passed on his knowledge of indigenous weapons and Aboriginal daily life as a member of the local Yuet tribe.

Before they knew it, the students were on their way home and had actually survived three days with little or no use of technology!


Here is what some of our students had to say about their camp experience:


  • "I thought the New Norcia Camp was really fun. The top thing to do was throwing boomerangs and spears, because it was a great experience to learn from an indigenous person and to learn the right technique. Overall, the experience of living in New Norcia and learning from different people that know a lot of information was amazing and it was the best camp." by Gracie-May Russell


  • "Year Five New Norcia Camp was really fun. We got to throw boomerangs and spears. We also got to make Mya-Myas and that was awesome. We slept in an old school called Saint Gertrude’s and we had our breakfast, lunch and dinner at Saint Ildephonsus. We watched a movie called "Minions" and had a campfire with Lester (an aboriginal elder). We also had a games night." by Ava Temple


  • "I think New Norcia Camp was really fun. I liked it because we slept in a really open area and it was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. I liked everything so I heavily suggest you go there. You will have an amazing time!" by Thomas Alderson