Harri Gearside

I made this Coolamon for my baby sister so she understands my culture, which is Gamilaroi. A piece of Grey Gum was cut traditionally from the tree. This doesn’t harm the tree. I used a mutton fish shell to scrape and carve the shape. The ochre colours that I painted with were yellow, red and white. I also painted with charcoal. 

Ochre is a type of paint that comes from special rocks and clay and it’s the sweat from Mother Earth. Coolamon is a little bed that the babies sleep in and it’s used as a food platter and for many other uses. 

Mia Gray

In Week 4, I started my Coolamon and I ended up finishing in Week 9. In Week 4, Andrew cut out my Coolamon and when I first had it, it was slightly curved but when the process was finished, it ended up being flat. 

During the 5 weeks of making my Coolamon, I had to think about designs and what I would want to write. I wrote “Yarri yarraang 2021” which means goodbye 2021.

The designs on my Coolamon were the Aboriginal Flag because I wanted to use something that was meaningful to me. I used black core, which was made with charcoal, ochre and water. I also used red and yellow ochre and water for the Aboriginal flag. The Aboriginal flag is meaningful to me because I found out in Year 3 that I was Aboriginal. I also wrote Mia Gray and Gumbaynggir.