In the Art component of the Waranara project, we students painted Indigenous shields and gumnuts in the traditional Indigenous style. The group of students who elected art were split in half, the girls and the boys.

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On one side of the room, the girls used sandpaper to smooth down gumnuts so we could paint them and plaited twine to tie the gumnuts on to. The boys on the other side of the room painted white cardboard in the shape of Indigenous shields using traditional symbols. Acrylic paint was used for both the gumnuts and the shields, and emu feathers were woven onto the twine as it was plaited.

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The twine plaits were used to string the gumnuts in place of vines from the trees. The plaits were also used in dance rituals by traditional people. When the artworks were finished, the twine plaits with the gumnuts attached at the bottom made by the girls were hung in an installation from a tree. The shields were placed in an installation on the lawn in place of our lost tree. They were wonderful.

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- A, Yr 8