Little J finds a Hawk Moth caterpillar on the Tar vine in the backyard that he names ‘Sausage’. He wants to take it to school but the caterpillar has other ideas and disappears underground. Nanna teaches Little J the story about the Yeperenye caterpillar of the Arrente people from central Australia. Sausage finally returns to give Little J a further lesson on life cycles. Sissy wants to perform a dance for the school with Big Cuz, but Big Cuz feels ‘shame’.

Elaborate - Present narratives, information and findings in oral, graphic and written forms using simple terms to denote the passing of time and to describe direction and location

Theme - STORIES

After viewing Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 10 ‘Transformation’, ask students to identify parts of the story focused on significance, continuity and change, place and space and interconnections, in the individual stories about each character.

Being a kid!...

Have students revisit Little J & Big Cuz, Episode 10 ‘Transformation’, and imagine life for a child who lived in the Arrernte Country before European colonisation. Have students pose and respond to questions about what a child of their age would do each day, who would teach them how to live safely, protect them, and looked after them, etc.

Explain to students that the lives of most Aboriginal children today are very different from traditional times, but the stories told about the past allow us to understand what life may have been like. Students can choose to consider the life for an Arrernte child, or be a child of the past in their local Aboriginal culture and/or Torres Strait Islander culture.

Using the web resources/references for this module, and picture books, students could research information to support and evidence their story.

Students should

• position themselves in a ‘time’, preferably prior to European settlement
• name themselves using local Aboriginal language names and/or Torres Strait Islander language names
• explain the meaning of their name, and any Aboriginal Dreaming story and/or Torres Strait Islander Bipo Bipo Taim (Before Before Time) story about their name or group’s totem
• describe a day in the life of a child at that time, including the food they gathered or hunted to eat, the tools and technologies they used, toys they played with, and the games they played, etc.
• develop a narrative about what the child would see, do, feel and smell in the environment around them – the dangers to look out for, the pleasures of swimming in a cool gorge, etc.
• map their family (kinship), and the relationships of family and/or carers – use language to describe these relationships, e.g. who looks after them and teaches them, where they sleep, and eat?
• explain the families’ seasonal celebrations incorporating music, dance, art, body art and decoration and what these symbolise
• include a Yipirinya/Yeperenye caterpillar in their story
• Illustrate parts of the story to accompany the text/oral narrative
• Present and share their research and story through oral, text and/or multimedia means of communication. Publish any visual materials with a voice recording/ written text.

 Suggested resource

• History Stories (Arrente Dreamtime Meaning)