Year 3 Collage - Immanuel Primary School

Artist and writer Sally Morgan was born in Perth in 1951 and belongs to the Palku people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Morgan feels equally at home with writing and painting, and readily switches between the two. Morgan has said 'I need to paint and to write; I can express things in different ways and perhaps reach different audiences. I paint so I don't have to explain. When I want to fill in the details, I write'. [1] Morgan grew up unaware of her Aboriginal heritage as her family was part of the Stolen Generation, and instead believed she was of Indian descent. Morgan's 1987 book 'My Place' was inspired by this experience of her hidden cultural heritage and her pursuit for her identity.

Year 3 students created fish rarrk (cross-hatching) collages inspired by Sally Morgan's book 'The River'. We began by listening to The River on Story Box, narrated by Ydinji performer and comedian Steph Tisdell and then watched River Kids where we learnt more about the Murray River. This allowed us to connect Morgan's work to the world of my students as they were familiar with this waterway in South Australia. We talked about the impact of European settlement and compared what life was like then to now.

Using colour sticks, students coloured sheets of paper and then cut the paper into quarters. Students then began to make their own Murray Cod collage using a variety of cutting and layering techniques.

- Sharon Lynch, Specialist Art Teacher, Immanuel Primary School