Red Centre Immersion Tour
 |  |
|---|---|
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
The Red Centre Immersion Tour is a trip led by Newington staff to Central Australia. Under the guidance of two experienced Local Indigenous men we were invited to visit and stay in their community and engage in a variety of activities. We will visit regions of breathtaking and awesome beauty such as Uluru and Kings Canyon. Along the way, there will also be hands on cultural activities, such as art/craft, music, hunting and gathering, sampling bush tucker and learning about traditional survival techniques for living in the outback. Although a major part of the tour is designed to immerse us in, and give us a greater understanding of Australia's Indigenous culture, there is a service component to the trip, where we help with a construction project for an aboriginal elder in the region.
Red Centre Immersion Tour Experience Details
Planning Details:
In semester 1, we were told that the Red Centre tour was going ahead this year, and to sign up for it if we were interested. The first 20 boys were able to go on the tour, and from there, it was a matter of following the instructions of the relevant teachers organising the tour.
CAS Learning Outcomes:
Learning outcome 1: Identify own strengths and develop areas for growth
I love the outdoors and going camping, so the camping aspect of the trip won’t be a problem for me. The purpose of the trip, however, is to provide a service to some people, as well as developing a much better understanding of the Aboriginal culture and people, and what they have gone through at a much deeper level.
Learning outcome 2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process
On the trip, we may develop new skills in trekking in the outback, including developing survival skills, and we will certainly learn new things; both about the land in the Northern Territory, as well as its people.
Learning outcome 3: Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience
This outcome is not relevant to this experience, as it was organised almost exclusively by the school.
Learning outcome 4: Show commitment to and perseverance in CAS experiences
The tour is in the winter holidays, so it’s quite a large commitment to go away for a week in your holidays. Prior to leaving we also had to attend several meetings to discuss the tour itinerary, and also to start getting an understanding of cultural aspects associated with Indigenous Australians.
Learning outcome 5: Demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively
This outcome is not relevant to this experience.
Learning outcome 6: Demonstrate engagement with issues of global significance
This outcome is probably most effectively addressed in this CAS experience because of all the things we learnt on the trip. The inequities that Aboriginal people face is particularly a national problem, and something that Australia needs to address, but is also of global significance.
Learning outcome 7: Recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions
Similar to the previous outcome, this one is addressed by all the things we can appreciate after going on the trip. When we see all the consequences of different actions, over many generations, we can really start to consider how the ethics of our choices can really have significant implications.