Thank You
By Estrella, Year 5
Thank You.
I
am
thankful.
Thankful for taking care of the
Cockatoos that sit on wires and screech too much,
the fuzzy numbats that warm everyone’s hearts,
and the malleefowls that oddly lay their eggs
far
under
ground.
I
am
thankful.
I have met all sorts of people.
The funny.
The weak.
The ignorant.
The kind.
And so on.
All because you, the Wise Ones, have taken care of our Land we survive,
and thrive on,
today. They are the oldest continuing living culture in the world.
I
am
thankful.
The stories First Nations peoples have preserved,
tell stories of how
L
a
n
d
was formed.
How
W a t e r
connects to all. I, specifically, am, on the Lands of the Wangal clan of the Eora Nation.
I cannot say how thankful I am.
Didjurigura.
Thank You by Estrella is an excerpt from Deadly Writing. Deadly Writing explores significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices. Each week, students explore a range of texts crafted by First Nations artists and use them as inspiration for their own writing. They learn about Indigenous cultures and languages from diverse communities around Australia, and explore their own experiences and values as they write a series of short pieces of writing, producing a personal anthology. Students learn about and experiment with a variety of editing strategies as they prepare their own writing for publication. Deadly, unna?