https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdXPzwG60uY

What is a LinC trip?

We take students out bush to learn in the ways Warlpiri people have always learned. Each trip is shaped by elder and community guidance, cultural learning priorities and the cycles of nature, creating experiences where learning occurs with ease.

Trips are planned using curriculum links, yet we remain flexible, allowing our elders to lead learning by responding to what the land presents; to tracks in the sand, weather changes, plants, animals and anything that arises in the moment. This creates rich, meaningful learning experiences that “leave a mark on us” (Tommy Watson, 2023) and bring lived knowledge into our classrooms.

Students learn Jukurrpa, the living stories that teach us the character of each place, along with the songs, dances, language, skin names, and cultural responsibilities that belong to these places. They learn who owns the land, who cares for it, and how they themselves are connected to it. We are focused on our students developing a deep Warlpiri cultural understanding.

Trip activities include; hunting, gathering bush foods and medicines, making tools and shelters, caring for waterholes, preparing and cooking food, walking through country, tracking animals, swimming in water places, and learning how to speak to country for protection, respect, and guidance. Students learn how to care for country and how to live well within it. Most importantly, LinC is about us spending quality time in country. When we spend time, especially with our elders there alongside us, everything falls into place. 

What happens on a LinC excursion?

Land based learning

Where Warlpiri knowledge and language was born and where Warlpiri educators are the experts

Cultural knowledge & skills

Living stories, song, dance, traditional technologies, communicating with country, mind mapping country

Country as Teacher

Elders and Warlpiri teachers guide students through experiences that arise in country

Community led

Elders, teachers, family members, students and LinC team, all learning together

Before Trips: Planning & Assessment

LinC trips are planned by classroom teaching teams with the support of our LinC Senior Warlpiri Educators and our LinC Senior Teacher. We combine the voices and desires of these educators, with the Warlpiri theme for the term and the NT Indigenous Languages and Cultures Curriculum (ILC), to create a focus for each trip (see more information on these curricula below).

The flowchart summarises the journey from planning, onto delivery, assessment and reporting.

Here is an example of a LinC unit planning document detailing the before, during and after of a trip to ‘Pararri’ in 2025. These documents are owned by the Yapa teachers.

The Warlpiri Theme Cycle

The Warlpiri Theme Cycle is a local language and culture curriculum that was developed by Warlpiri elders and educators from Yuendumu, Lajamanu, Willowra and Nyirrpi in the 1980s. It is also known as the Warlpiri Knowledge Cycle. At the time, elders were concerned about Warlpiri knowledge being passed on to younger generations. Elders gave their ideas for what kids should learn, based on what they were taught as young Warlpiri people. Now we have a 3 year theme cycle where each term has a different learning focus that underpins all learning in our school.

The theme of the term influences where we go and what we do on our LinC trips as well as what we teach in classrooms from the Australian Curriculum.

For more information on the Warlpiri Theme Cycle
Warlpiri Theme Cycle – Bilingual Resource Development Unit

The Northern Territory Indigenous Languages and Cultures Curriculum (NT ILC)

LinC supports teaching teams to assess against the “Culture” and “Speaking and Listening” pathways of the NT ILC. The NT ILC was developed by Indigenous educators and is designed to preserve and strengthen Indigenous languages and cultural knowledge in schools across the Northern Territory.

Check out these curriculum documents here:
Culture Pathway
Speaking & Listening Pathway

On LinC trips

Every LinC trip is different, with our trips spanning right across the vast Warlpiri landscape and different learning opportunities arising in country each day. Every year, 100 community knowledge holders share their unique knowledge and skills on our trips. This adds to the consistent guidance that students get from our regular team of trainees, Senior Warlpiri Educators and Yapa teachers.

The foundations of our program are day and evening trips with classes. While we also run a variety of special events, overnight camps and our biggest event of the year, “Country Visits”, a whole community event where we camp for 5 days. Elders select 2-3 different homelands and community members choose their camp based on their family connections. From these camps, we visit special places whilst spending time living in family groups and learning Warlpiri ways.

The LinC team record media during trips to bring learning back into classrooms, supporting reflection, storytelling, literacy, and much more.

Below are some photos from LinC trips that reflect the diversity of our learning experiences.

Also see our Instagram page @linc_yuendumu_kuurlu

Back at school

From these excursions, bilingual education comes to life in the classroom, inspiring Yapa and Kardiya teachers and their students to learn and live together in the right way.

The lesson following a trip is named Pina Nyangka which means “looking back at the steps we’ve taken”, a reflection lesson where kids recount their experiences together to deepen their learning through a variety of oral, written, play based and visual formats such as mapping their journey, captioning photos, writing recounts and targeted discussion about learning that occurred.

The lessons that follow Pina Nyangka, use the shared experience out bush to dive deeper into the ILC curriculum focus, which results in assessment and reporting on Warlpiri culture, speaking and listening. These lessons are often project based with an integrated focus that combines with specialist subjects like science, history and geography – all of which feed from the Warlpiri theme.

From these lessons students deepen their experience through learning projects. Some previous examples include making ceremonial objects, Jukurrpa story dioramas, ochre paintings, creating books, procedural videos, bush medicine balms, written recounts, cooking and butchering animals, acting out Jukurrpa stories, making baby carriers, baby smoking preparations, mapping projects, building traditional houses, making clap sticks, boomerangs, water carriers, headdresses etc.

Below are some photos of school-based lessons delivered by Yapa teachers and student work that has come from LinC units of work.

Growing our team for the future

LinC receives support from GMAAAC to create professional development opportunities for our team, community knowledge holders and all Yuendumu School Staff. Some examples from recent years include:

– Learning together events in country with school staff to celebrate the end of term and prepare for the upcoming Warlpiri theme.
– Ngurra Guthi Cultural Songs Camp and Symposium in Newcastle, NSW.
– Puulima Indigenous Language Conference in Darwin, NT.
– The Living Country Men’s Cultural Networking Camp in Brewarrina, NSW.
– Ngurrara Country Mapping project workshops.
– Training qualifications for our team such as 4WD, MR License, Bronze Medallion, First aid.
– Cultural Songs workshops.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abaz_BYlqmk