Students put best feet forward to acknowledge Aboriginal women

An initiative to acknowledge the strong women in Busselton’s Aboriginal community made its way to Geographe Primary School on Wednesday, with students creating fabric feet as part of the Walking on Boodja project.

The project, which was developed by Cape Naturaliste College Aboriginal work placement student Georgia O’Neill, will include a sea of red, black and yellow fabric feet with a message installed at Mitchell Park in celebration of NAIDOC Week from July 7-14.

Ms O’Neill said the project kept within this year’s NAIDOC week theme — because of her, we can — and was also an acknowledgement of the strong women in the Aboriginal community.

“I got the concept from a project that happened in Canberra in 2006, and we changed some parts of it to suit our community,” she said.

“It’s lovely to see the younger community contributing gorgeous messages to the women in their lives – like Nana’s, Aunties, Mums and cousins.”

City of Busselton cultural development officer Jacquie Happ encouraged the community to participate by creating their own feet or joining in on a workshop at the Busselton Library on Wednesday, June 6.

“We hope that the public is interested in expressing their feelings to the Aboriginal community and that the Aboriginal people can read these messages that we hope are meaningful,” she said.

An Aboriginal art exhibition of local artworks, organised by community members at Railway House will also be on display from the end of June to the end of July.