The drum : the Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services magazine
Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services
The Drum; E-Journals; PublicationNT
2009-08-01
This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.; Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).
Date:2009-08
English
Northern Territory Police, Fire And Emergency Services -- Periodicals; Police -- Northern Territory -- Periodicals
Northern Territory Government
Winnellie
Attribution International 4.0 (CC BY 4.0)
Northern Territory Government
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/216683
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/709118
8 | The DRUM Magazine | August 2009 Its 11am on Tuesday 5 th May 2009, destination Oenpelli (Gunbalanya). Buses are loaded, seat belts are on and fastened . . . 20 recruits from Squad 100 are off on a two day Aboriginal Cultural Awareness excursion. First port of call was to The Windows on the Wetlands Visitor Centre, situated along the Arnhem Highway at Beatrice Hill. Recruits were in awe of the fantastic views from the lookout points and participated in the interactive displays about the ecological process that occurs in the wetlands. We stayed overnight at Goanna Camp, home to the Junior Police Rangers, where Superintendent Fuller, Sergeant Hall, ACPOS Lorraine Jones, Lisa Burkenhagen and Michael Cousins gave an interactive presentation on Aboriginal Culture. Recruits found this to be informative and well presented. Questions came in abundance, especially from our interstate recruits. Second stop along the way was Ubirr rock, with an early departure allowing us to arrive there by 9am. A beautiful place where over 1500 years ago Aboriginal people camped in the rock shelters to take advantage of the variety of foods available from the East Alligator River, the Nadab floodplain and the surrounding woodlands. Food items were often painted on the walls, to pay respect to that particular animal, and to ensure future hunting success. Finally, just a short drive to our final destination Oenpelli (Gunbalanya) where we were welcomed by acting Officer-inCharge Constable Ben Higgins, Senior Constable David Booth and ACPO Shaun Hill who had made arrangements for us to visit the Injalak Art and Craft Centre where an abundance of delicately made screen-printed fabrics, woven baskets and traditional bark paintings are made by some of the best Aboriginal artists in Destination Oenpelli By Renae McGarvie Top Looking out from Ubirr rock Left High tide at Cahills Crossing meant our recruits had to wait for the water level to drop to cross to Oenpelli Bottom left Squad 100 recruits and trip coordinators Renae McGarvie and Shane Shewring. Bottom right Oenpelli art centre.