21 November 2025
‘A black cockatoo!’ I hear it before I see it. Reaching me above the traffic and the internally racing to-do list. Guiding our way down North Tce.
The ELC boys have been developing deep connections this year to the Botanic Gardens, which is on Kaurna land. They have cultivated a sense of appreciation, awareness and ngaityalya (respect) for the plants, animals, weather and people they connect with on their weekly wonder walks.
‘A fox!!!’ Together we look. Together we pause. The light is clear and bright and the flash of red lit up against the blue sky.
We were very grateful to Uncle John for joining us on Thursday 20 November. He started with a smoking ceremony in the ELC. The Mulberry Tree room then showed him the way down North Tce. At the gardens Uncle John talked to the boys about how everything is connected.
Thirteen 4-year-old boys settle. They sit. They chat. They shift the dirt beneath them with sticks. Leaving traces. Dirt tracing lines on their palms. Above them a 500 year old shelter tree folds in around them.
One of the things that I always appreciate about time with Uncle John is the insight I gain about ways of being, belonging and becoming. Beyond a history lesson, Uncle John always leaves me contemplating bigger themes of the art of living.
“It’s our turtle!” The boys line up and whisper hello as it sunbakes on the bank.
Uncle John commented on the act of walking. The very simple but powerful practice of walking together. Of physically connecting with Country under foot, of connecting with those around you as you walk, of connecting with the animals and plants you notice. Uncle John always brings it back to the connections. Back to being, belonging and becoming together.
The climbing tree – its arms reach out and hold the boys. All of them. Together.
Holly Baulderstone
Head of Early Years
