Warragul North Primary School was recently treated to a learning experience like no other when students took part in an immersive planetarium experience.
The planetarium, which was in essence an inflatable dome, saw students lie down inside in pure darkness to watch a projection on the roof of the film 'The Earth Above: A Deep Time View of Australia's Epic History.'
Transporting students through 140,000 years of Australia's history, the film blended Indigenous knowledge with scientific insights, including a story of Mulla-mullung (Gunaikurnai medicine men and women) from Cloggs Cave, near Buchan.
Local Kurnai elder Aunty Cheryl Drayton also attended to get a glimpse of the display.
The experience was brought to students courtesy of the Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC).
The immersive planetarium show was produced in partnership with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage (CABAH) and Deakin Motion Lab and First Nations communities around Australia.
It showcases four significant locations: Girraween Lagoon on Larrakia and Wulna Country outside Darwin, Lake Mungo in NSW on Barkandji/Paakantyi, Ngyiampaa, and Mutthi Mutthi land, Jiigurru (Lizard Island) on the Great Barrier Reef, and Cloggs Cave on Gunaikurnai Country.
Travelling around to primary and secondary schools all around Gippsland, Warragul was just one stop along the way for the experience.
GLaWAC JM ranger and cultural education officer Shay Terrick travelled with the planetarium to several of schools across the region to talk to his experience of visiting Cloggs cave through his work.
"You don't usually get the opportunity to see something like that. Seeing the kids eyes light up afterwards. It was awesome," he said.