Relishing the sense of peace in my country

I feel like I learnt much more though as I was on country, seeing and feeling everything, so I understood the culture and connections more.

I stayed with my uncle, my mum’s brother, in Swan Hill.

He showed me around the town where he lives.

On the last week of my holidays down there, my uncle took me to Cummeragunja.

Cummeragunja is a community on Yorta Yorta land.

My nan, my uncle, my little cousin and I went camping at the back of Cummera.

I learnt a lot while I was down there.

I learnt about the country and the sacred places.

My nan showed me the rivers in our country and the sacred sites where my nanny (great grandmother) and her family went when they were young for picnics.

At some of the picnic sites you could still see the ashes of the old fires and the shells and bones of the bush tucker they cooked there.

My nan also showed me the old school my nanny went to when she was a young girl, but now the school is a museum.

When many kids who went to this school pass away, their service gets held there.

When I was on my own country I felt like I was safe.

I felt could stay up fishing all by myself and not get scared, and like there was no such thing as bad spirits.

I also felt peace inside me and calm.

I felt connected with my country as I was camping. It felt like I was home.

I met some of my mum’s cousins and some of my cousins for the first time.

I connected with my nan the most because we talked a lot about country and she showed me a lot of places.

My aunty also took me around but mostly it was my nan.

Ever since I went down there I really want to go back.

My nan wants me to go and live there for a while and I would love to, more than anything.

This is because I would learn so much more about Yorta Yorta culture, especially things I still haven’t learnt about such as language and bush foods.

This is not just for me but because in the future I want to pass down my culture to my children.