MICK
It took quite some time, phone calls and driving, but yesterday I did get the chance to meet with Michael “Mick” Horn, an Indigenous Community-leader and teacher of traditional Aboriginal culture. Mick is also one of the few people who still know how to craft traditional boomerangs by hand. A knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generation in his family. He takes Aboriginal school kids of all ages out into the wilderness teaching them how to make didgeridoos (he plays one in the photograph), traditional dances, hunting and fishing techniques, and tells them their ancestor’s stories. And he teaches them about Aboriginal Astronomy – about stories and myths associated with the objects and constellations in the sky, and how their ancestors made use of the stars to determine the seasons, to find food and water. Mick told me he plans to get in touch with the observatory in order to introduce the kids to another, “recent” aspect of astronomy, and to inspire their curiosity about science that way.
