There comes a time to make way for the new, and on Thursday the Sale North Kindergarten staff, students and parents celebrated renaming Mark Avenue Park in Sale to Djambies Park with a sweeping dance and new sign.
It was a wonderful morning as 23 excited kindergarten students gathered at Sale North Kindergarten on Marilyn Way. It’s a five-minute walk to the newly-named park, and for the occasion, the kids were joined by family members who were keen to see what was about to be unveiled.
Photos: Stefan Bradley
At the park, the children performed a ‘Making Way for the New’ dance led by Electra, an Indigenous woman. Electra’s granddaughter Janarlee Nelson took part in the dance as a special guest, and cut the ceremonial tape. Mark Avenue Park officially became Djambies Park.
“I’m very proud of my granddaughter, and I’m happy that she got a great opportunity,” Electra said.
According to Electra, the sweeping dance traditionally was an Aboriginal dance from a very long time ago.
“We used to sweep so we weren’t leaving tracks behind,” she said.
“So today I’m just putting that in a different context. The children are young, they’re beautiful, they’re full of love…they’re sweeping to fling away the old and making the new.”
Janarlee will grow older, but what will remain timeless is the illustration on the sign. The sign itself was designed by the Wellington Shire, with the artwork drawn by Janarlee.
It depicts herself and two friends from when she was a student at the Sale North Kindergarten in 2022.
Janarlee told the Gippsland Times she came up with the art by herself, and wanted to draw something that included her friends.
“I miss kinder,” Janarlee said.
Electra thanked kindergarten teacher Sue Lorenz for organising the day’s events, which were three years in the making.
In March 2020, staff from Sale North Kindergarten attended ECO Learning professional development training. The nature kindergarten training packages are designed to assist and guide educators and services to establish place-based outdoor learning programs in Victoria and are supported by the Department of Education and Training.
During this training, staff walked to the then-named Mark Avenue Park. Sue Lorenz said the facilitator of the professional development session suggested that the park could become a location to commence the Nature Kinder program.
“Of course, later that March, Covid impacted those plans,” Ms Lorenz said.
The kindergarten contacted the Wellington Shire’s Parks department in August 2020 and discovered they had allocated funds for the redevelopment of the park. Ms Lorenz and other staff met with the members from the Shire’s Parks Department in late August and discussed the redevelopment, providing them with photos of nature spaces for children.
“At this time I asked could we perhaps rename the park if we gained support from our Indigenous families and community,” Ms Lorenz said.
“We researched a suitable name discussing this with children and our families.
“We found the name Djambies, meaning friend (‘dj’ as in ‘jug’ and ‘a’ as in ‘but’) in the children’s book How Towera the Fire Was Made, a story retold by Lynette Solomon-Dent and illustrated by Rachel Mullett.”
In December 2022 the name was approved and the sign was designed.
“We have been walking to Djambies Park since the redevelopment was completed in 2021,” Ms Lorenz said.
“Children are very excited each time we visit and our families and community support this program as we regularly receive positive feedback.
“At Sale North Kindergarten we believe outdoor play is vitally important for learning in early childhood and our visits to the park also provide opportunity for children to learn about road safety and their nearby community.”
Djambies Park is part of Wellington Shire Council’s Nature Play Bush Kindergarten Project. It’s listed as a major project in Council’s Municipal Public Health and Wellbeing Plan ‘Healthy Wellington 2021-2025’.
