Wominjeka: The Thank You Workshop

Jan 'Yarn' Wositzky

Wominjeka: Wominjeka: Wominjeka:

The workshop sessions were invaluable, providing a context for students to understand the thousands of years of complex story within the song. The whole school community was moved by the students singing your ‘Thank You For The Welcome’ song.
Thais Sanson, Castlemaine PS

Jan has done something special here. The song with its message of thank you and acknowledgment of Country should be taken up by all schools. It provides an important way, through music, that we can better understand our place in this land.
Ron Murray – Wamba Wamba storyteller & musician

For Australian history: Wominjeka means 'welcome' in the Wurundjeri and Dja Dja Wurrung languages of Melbourne and central Victoria, and in this workshop Jan 'Yarn' Wositzky teaches a song of respect for Indigenous people.

Within this musical experience the students come to hear and understand many stories of black-white contact and welcoming, conflict and reconciliation, including:

* How Indigenous ceremonies compare with our customs of welcome and laws of visas and
passports
* Aborigines and First Fleet soldiers dancing together
* The Woiwurrung welcome for John Batman when he came in 1835 to ‘purchase’ the land
that is now Melbourne
* Jan's personal experiences with Aboriginal people, their hospitality and welcomes

For this workshop Jan 'Yarn' Wositzky draws on his many book, radio, film, CD and music projects with Indigenous Australians, as well as from thorough research.

Students learn about respect for other cultures and to take responsibility, without guilt, for our history.

How it works:

Jan teaches students to sing the song titled Thank You for the Welcome To Your Country, tells the stories embedded in the lyrics, discusses the issues with students, asks students for their ways of welcome and compares with Indigenous customs (sometimes very similar), and at the end of the workshop the song is recorded to CD, which the school keeps.

Schools may use the song later in concerts and other occasions, and as a dignified response to Indigenous Welcome to Country.

We'll send you the song to learn on booking.

Participation
Everyone sings and makes suggestions about their own ways of welcoming.

BOOKINGS
To make a booking or enquiry, simply press the GREEN Enquiry/Booking Request Button above right to directly contact the booking team. They will answer you promptly to discuss your booking including when payment will be required.

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More Reviews

Your idea to dedicate a work of thanks in response to the Jarra Welcome to Country was thoughtful and progressive. The occasion was moving and profound.
Martin Paten
Festival Director, Castlemaine State Festival

The best Welcome to Country I have ever experienced.
Lynne Kosky, Minister for the Arts, Victorian Government, 2009

We thank you for engaging the students in such rich sessions of storytelling – inspiring dignity, awareness, understanding and appreciation as well as lots of laughs!
Castlemaine South Primary School

Show Details

Type

incursion

Year Level Suitability

3-6 to 10-12

Curriculum area

The Arts - Music, History

Themes

Australian History, Colonisation, Indigenous, Relationship Between Black And White Australians, Customs Of Welcome, Reconciliation.

Artform

Drama, Live Music, Workshop

Duration

90 minutes

Cost

$5.00 per student $500 minimum per show 10% discount for second show on same day (Travel and accomodation may apply in some locations.) Available all year in Victoria or nearby NSW. Other states please enquire.

School Term:
Term 1, Term 2, Term 3, Term 4

Availability

Jan operates out of Castlemaine, Victoria, and is available all year in Victoria and southern NSW. For elsewhere in Australia it needs to be a string of shows, so please send Jan an enquiry and we'll see if he can come your way.
PRESS THE GREEN BUTTON to directly contact the booking team!

Enquiry/Booking Request