BMG 2020 Grammarian Issue 3

28 Back in the 1990s, long before the bus turnaround existed and before N, O and P blocks were built, there was the back paddock. On a regular basis, the wedge-tailed eagles would come and land not far from L block. We would stop what we were doing and watch these magnificent birds from the classroom windows. They were amazing to witness; their grace, strength and power when landing and taking off was awesome. The Wedge-tailed Eagle is Australia's largest living bird of prey and one of the largest eagles in the world. They breed across plains and forests; locally the eagles have breeding areas on the outcrops in nearby Rowsley Valley. Wedge-tailed Eagles feature in many dreaming stories for Aboriginal Australians: the eagle Bunjil is an important creator being for the Kulin people of central Victoria. In these dreamtime stories, Bunjil (an ancestral spirit) created the environment and all the plants and animals that live in it, including humans. He also taught the people how to survive in their country, how to make the weapons and tools they used, and he gave them their laws. In Moorabool Shire, the township of Gordon has the eagle as the town symbol and there are Aboriginal sites of significance across the region. It is also of note that our local Aboriginal Elders live in Gordon. In Term 4 of 2017, students in 2D Art chose to depict the Eagle in wall murals. Two art works were created; a stylised eagle and a larger realistic eagle. Each group undertook research, planned and designed their murals, with the results being permanently installed in the school grounds. 2017 The Eagle The realistic eagle mural was created by a number of students who worked as a team, sharing their strengths in each aspect of the mural production. The stylised eagle on the music wall was created by past students Elizabeth Grosshans, Eden Noonan and Vincent Nguyen.