QATSIF Student challenges:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, QATSIF provided daily challenges for students over the school holiday break to help keep students active and learning.

The challenges are provided as an ongoing resource for schools and community groups.

QATSIF Student Challenge #1

Learn and Teach

Learn an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander game and teach your family. Please remember to wash your hands before and after each game!

There are lots of deadly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander games on the SportsAus / AIS website to explore - https://www.sportaus.gov.au/yulunga

We have two favourites at QATSIF:

- Kai: a Torres Strait Islander skill game where you have to work as a team to keep a ball, rolled up socks etc. up in the air for as many hits as you can. It's a bit like playing volleyball in a circle. Remember that you must hit the ball to someone else each time. It could also be played by one person where you try to beat your own best score for the total number of hits or kicks. https://www.sportaus.gov.au/…/…/pdf_file/0008/704843/kai.pdf

- Walbiri: a central Australian Aboriginal memory game used to help train young people to remember important landmarks. Your put 10 different items or playing cards in a circle. Everyone has to remember the items in order. Each player has a turn and turns their back and calling out the items in the correct order. The trick is that each player has to start with a different item. In the single player version you need to turn your back and write down the items in order. https://www.sportaus.gov.au/…/pdf_f…/0009/704916/walbiri.pdf

QATSIF Student Challenge #2

David Uniapon challenge

David Uniapon has been called "Australia's Leonardo da Vinci" for his deadly inventions and is recognised for his scientific achievements on our Australian $50 note. Your challenge is to find out about as many of David Uniapon's remarkable inventions as you can.

NB* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are advised that this challenge will involve viewing images of deceased people.

QATSIF Student Challenge #3

Cook an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander meal or snack for your family.

A nice simple place to start is the damper recipe (photo) from the Living Strong cookbook. Damper is deadly with butter, golden syrup, jams, honey and other spreads.

NB* Please remember to wash your hands before cooking. Younger students are reminded to speak with your parents or an adult before cooking.

Other online cookbooks you could look at for inspiration are:

- Living Strong, Healthy Lifestyle Cookbook: https://healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/key-resources/resources/16849/

- The Kaikai Facebook page (including Torres Strait Islander cooking): https://www.facebook.com/The.Kaikai.Book/ or https://kaikaibook.com.au/

- Flavours of the Coast Koori Cookbook: https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20190307093620/https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/images/uploads/publications/4423_HF__Koori_Cookbook_FA_WEB.pdf

QATSIF Student Challenge #4

The gratitude jar

Create a gratitude jar for you and maybe for your whole family. Each day, write down at least one thing that you are grateful for and place it in the jar.

It is always good, but especially now in these challenging times to remember the things that we are thankful for each day.

Some things could be:

- my family
- a beautiful sunset
- having a meal when so many do not
- listening to my favourite song
- a good night's sleep

Maybe at the end of each month or if you are feeling a little down, you and your family could sit down and go through the jar?

QATSIF Challenge #5

“Terra Nullius” Myth

Learn about Aboriginal agricultural, aquacultural and land management practices to challenge the myth of Australia being "Terra Nullius" (No-one's land).

The short video presents a brief summary of the information from "Dark Emu" by Bruce Pascoe and "The Biggest Estate on Earth" by Bill Gammage to dispel the myth of "Terra Nullius".

Please be aware that this video was produced by an overseas company to educate students from across the world, so it has incorrect uses of language and pronunciations.

QATSIF Student Challenge #6

Test and Expand your Knowledge

Learning about some famous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders from across the years.

This is a two part challenge to learn about just a few of our many famous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders:

Part 1: Test your knowledge out on our quiz - https://quizizz.com/join/quiz/5e8a9dcb8858fb001bc7bed9/start?studentShare=true

(NB* Our quiz contains images of deceased persons. While our answers are all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders, the names in our questions are not necessarily)

Part 2: Pick a name or two from the quiz that you didn't know much about and find out more about that person. What are their achievements? Who is their mob?

QATSIF Student Challenge #7

Expanding your musical knowledge

We are blessed to have so many deadly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians either born or created here in Queensland.

For today's challenge, we are inviting you to check out a few of our favourite musicians. Our musos are doing it tough at the moment, so let's share some of our favourites and support them through purchasing their music.

First of all, three award winning past QATSIF students who have taken out multiple Queensland Music Awards:

- Emily Wurramara (Black Smoke): https://youtu.be/Z_PUJ2S4uww

- Tia Gostelow (Vague Utopia): https://youtu.be/n85OeppYtiI

- Syccho (Lost in Yesterday): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4suxCWZCmtA

Secondly, we would also like to share two of our favourite musical legends:

- Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly (From Little Things, Big Things Grow) - https://youtu.be/dAONlfoNVuY

- Seaman Dan (Walking Frame Blues): https://youtu.be/FQnS0w8CCRE

QATSIF Student Challenge #8

Fighting Fire with fire

Learn about North Queensland Cultural Burning practices. Watch "Fighting Fire With Fire" (Australian Stories) and make a note of five things that you learnt about Cultural Burning.

When Victor Steffensen saw horrific bushfires breaking out across large parts of Australia this summer, it was no surprise to him.

The amount of vegetation on the landscape — and the type of vegetation — looked to him like a time bomb waiting to go off.

He believes we can look to the past to prevent this happening in the future.

As the face of the Cultural Burning movement, Victor says one of the answers may lie with the fire management techniques practised by Aboriginal people for thousands of years.

QATSIF Student Challenge #9

Torres Strait Islands Quiz

Learn about Torres Strait Islander Cultures through this short video quiz.

QATSIF Student Challenge #10

Be inspired by powerful Aboriginal and Torres strait islander wisdom and beautiful student artworks

As part of our 2024 QATSIF 👩🏾‍🎓🧑🏾‍🎓Graduations, we shared a wisdom reflection to send our QATSIF graduates out inspired by their rich cultural wisdom and heritage and to "Dream Big" for a bright future - https://youtu.be/GNjEXUWPSmI

Select one piece of wisdom that inspires you and perhaps investigate the Elder or influential person who said it.

The wisdom of prominent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians is set to music and artwork from our 2024 QATSIF Creative Arts Competition. All of the music and art featured was created by Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students.