Information and image from Koori Curriculum website

When we talk about Connecting with Country in early childhood education, our minds often drift to bushland, native plants, birds, or trees.

But Country has never been just about land.

Country is the rivers that carve through valleys. The wetlands that shelter life. The ocean that connects communities. The creeks children splash through. The mangroves, estuaries, billabongs and lakes that breathe life into everything around them.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, water is not simply a natural resource to be managed.

Water is Country. It is alive.

It holds stories, relationships, responsibilities and knowledge that have been passed between generations for tens of thousands of years. If we want children to genuinely connect with Country, we cannot stop at the bush. We need to learn to listen to the waterways too.