Lost Tribes

Frankston House Sanctuary of Early Learning just keeps kicking goals and continue to path the way at embedding culture! Merry Christmas everyone 🎅🎄🪃

A great day coming together with community. Thank you Derrimut Weelam Gathering Place 🖤❤️💛 check out our colleagues at Aboriginal Art and Bush Rubs 👍

A fantastic day 🖤💛❤️

First incursion back 🙌 Thank you to Wonnai Preschool for having us again for another cultural incursion & craft workshop. The kids made some deadly gumnut & emu feathered necklaces and got to decorate their own boomerangs 🪃

Another custom order with a request from the customer for earth colours to feel connected to her garden, this Coolamon will be used in a community garden to gather lovely fresh produce 🙌

Super proud of my daughter who has just finished this deadly painting “Dinawan Walking” all ready for the Kids Koorie Heritage Art Show 2021 ❤️💛🖤

This natural set of handcrafted Coolamons and Bubups with authentic possum skins have made their way to their new early education centre in Melbourne ❤️💛🖤

Unfortunately we still haven’t been able to get out and about for our incursions, but I have been busy completing some deadly custom made Coolamons for some happy customers. Traditionally burnt underneath with this beautiful turtle ❤️🖤💛

Congratulations 🎉 Sunni Cromwell and Michelle West on winning one of our fabulous book packs !

Stay tuned for our next fantastic competition, we have some gorgeous Bubps Dolls to giveaway ❤️💛🖤

This custom order is finished and ready for its forever home in QLD. This was a very special Coolamon for a very special vision impaired customer. Her requests were blues and greens, and she mentioned that she loved turtles 🐢. When making this I spent a lot of time feeling this piece with my hands, I would close my eyes so that I could feel what she would be feeling, the textures, the smoothness, the ridges. When I painted this I raised the paint so that she will be able to feel the design and story with her hands, and burnt on the outside of the Coolamon two beautiful turtles which can also be traced and felt by hand and that look as though they are naturally swimming within the natural lines of the wood like waves 🌊. ❤️💛🖤

Indigenous Literacy Day is on Today !!! Check out the beautiful downloadable resources available for you to promote your support for Indigenous Literacy Day online event. Alternatively check out there page for some great live events on today !



https://bit.ly/30KQg1W

1 September | Indigenous Literacy Foundation Indigenous Literacy Foundation | Can You Imagine a World Without Reading | DONATE TODAY

Watch this space 🖤💛❤️

Sometimes we get asked what is a Coolamon and what they were used for, Coolamons are multi-purpose shallow vessels or dishes traditionally used by Aboriginal people to carry water, fruits, nuts, and other types of bush tucker and even fire. They were also used to winnow chaff from collected seeds. In addition to carrying things sometimes a Coolamon would be used for crushing grain to make food with.

Coolamons generally range in size from 30 to 70cm and are long and straight with rounded edges at the top and bottom. They were carried either on the head with hair and feathers used as a cushion or under the arm when travelling. Traditionally these dishes were carried and used by women when gathering food for their families, and made by the men. Coolamons were used all over Australia to carry all sorts of items and were a valued and very useful tool.

Because Coolamons are made from tree bark and wood they do not preserve well and will often rot away and disappear before archaeologists get the chance to examine them. Luckily we are sometimes able to find the trees that the Coolamon bark or wood has been removed from. These are called scarred trees because we can actually see the scar left on the tree from where the bark has been removed, sometimes over 200 years ago!
Coolamons were most commonly made by cutting and separating the outer bark from a large tree with a cutting tool. Depending on the area and what plants are around, Coolamons were most commonly made from the bark of white gum, mulga, river red gum or beanwood trees.

Once the piece of bark has been removed from the tree it is then moulded over the fire which gives it its curved edges. Once this process is finished the Coolamon needs to be propped up with a stick or piece of wood (holding it upright and open) to stand for a few days so it doesn’t lose its new shape. To help preserve and protect the Coolamon they were regularly rubbed with animal fat (eg. emu) to keep the wood in good condition.
Aboriginal women would always carry their babies in a Coolamon when out gathering food, and used it as a bassinet with possum skins as a blanket over and under the baby. During the 1940s Pilbara Aboriginal workers strike, Aboriginal women supported their families by using Coolamons to separate tin, beryllium, wolfram and manganese from the soil.

These days Coolamons continue to be used as a reminder of our beautiful culture, this can be in an educational setting, or as a piece in your workplace or home. 🖤💛❤️

A beautiful new Coolamon completed today, each Coolamon is handcrafted, each one completely different and unique with natural features and textures. These can be ordered and customised. If anyone would like to purchase this new one PM us. ~ This is now sold ~

Check out our new beautiful deadly creations from Lost Tribes, our hand painted bubups dressed in genuine possum skins accompanied by our handcrafted Coolamons on their way to an early education centre in Brisbane. PM now for enquires or to order ❤️🖤💛

Check out our handmade fabric earrings and hair ties using beautiful bright and bold designs. Buy a pair for yourself or a friend or enquire about our earring making workshop/team building activity for your organisation or educators.

This beautiful Coolamon is ready for its new home at a wonderful little daycare centre here in Victoria, a wonderful edition for your educational space 🙌

Our Coolamons are beautifully handcrafted using only the best gum sourced directly on country here in Victoria. 🖤💛❤️

Almost completed, half way there, stage tuned ….

The 4th of August is a day that is celebrated throughout Australia as National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day. The date, 4 August, was historically used to communally celebrate the birthdays of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were taken from their families at a young age, without knowing their birthday – the Stolen Generations.

Almost complete, a work in progress …. Enquire now for custom designs for your workplace or educational facility.

Some stunning lockdown therapy for Uncle Josh. Have you considered an inside or outside art mural for your school or daycare ? Enquire now if you would like some more information. Stay safe and well everyone. 👍🏽

Another fantastic cultural incursion at Wonnai Preschool. The kids loved touching and learning about cultural items such as possum skins and echidna quills and jamming with Uncle Josh with their clap sticks. They had fun painting their own timber boomerangs and making gum nut and emu feather necklaces, finishing the session with story time. Thanks for having Lost Tribes and doing a brilliant job at embedding culture in your preschool 🖤💛❤️

Another exciting incursion coming up, I wonder what craft workshop Uncle Josh has planned for our next group of bubups 🤔 🤗

Thanks to Seaford House Childcare for having Uncle Josh come and share our beautiful culture with you all. 🖤💛❤️

Seaford House would like to acknowledge the Bunurong/Boonwurrung peoples, Traditional Custodians of the land on which we play, work and learn. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.

Today we received a visit from Uncle Josh, a proud Aboriginal man from the Buandig region.
Uncle Josh played the didgeridoo and taught us about Indigenous Australian cultures.🖤💛❤️

Are you looking at embedding respect for diversity to help children build awareness, and encourage positive attitudes towards cultural differences? Include some of our handcrafted sensory items in your education space 🖤💛❤️

So what are the benefits of the Yidaki (Didge)?
- Helps provide a focus for relaxation, meditation and general well-being in children
- Produces low frequency sound that we can hear, as well as vibrations that we can feel. These low frequencies have a healing effect on the living tissue and promote movement and unblocking of Energy in the body
- The Yidaki has an ability to harmonise energy, create calm and sooth stress
- Allows children to develop respect for diversity and understanding of culture
- Provides children with a rich and well-rounded knowledge of Australia’s First Nations People
- Beneficial for calming anxious or frustrated children

A brilliant job by our own Uncle Josh from Lost Tribes who made all 11 beautiful handcrafted gum centrepieces for each table for the NAIDOC dinner dance at Derrimut Weelam Gathering Place Mordiallic Victoria. ❤️💛🖤👌