In remote Milingimbi, the men participating in Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) training felt the STEPS training centre needed some beautification and the women students fully agreed.
It was decided that a Seat of Learning should be created using an unused bench seat in the yard to be placed under a large Tamarind Tree put there by the Macassans of Indonesia hundreds of years ago.
Building the Seat of Learning provided an excellent way for the men to put new learning into practice while continuing to learn during work on the project.
The men decided to have these lessons outdoors, enjoying their cultural preference to learn in a natural setting, while utilising their language, literacy and numeracy skills such as metric measurements and expanding their reading and writing abilities.
The tree casts a cooling shade at midday directly facing the sea, giving a beautiful breeze to supplement student learning.
The group went about digging the post holes, concreting the seat into place using a level tool and metric tape measures.
Part of the learning incorporated metric volumes for water. All important use of ratios were also put into practice to mix the cement and water.
After a lot of hot, sweaty work, the group felt a strong sense of achievement with the whole Milingimbi community now bringing their families to sit under the shade and enjoy the sea breeze at the Seat of Learning at the STEPS Training Centre Milingimbi.
Milingimbi Island is the largest island of the Crocodile Islands group off the coast of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia
