All Events

Spring holiday program

Mirawara Spring school holiday program is open for bookings! We have plenty on offer to keep you and the kids busy for the school holidays next Spring.

Basket weaving and healing Djandak with Dja Dja Wurrung elder

Come and spend a day with well-known elder and master weaver Aunty Marilyne Nicholls and learn how to weave traditional baskets. Aunty Marilyne will take you on a cultural walk around Walmer to talk about different materials you can use to weave baskets before settling into our beautiful rustic studio to learn how to weave your own basket. You will have a chance to learn about Dja Dja Wurrung culture and hear beautiful stories from Aunty Marilyne. As part of our commitment to healing Djandak (Country), you will also have the opportunity to plant natives grasses with Aunty Marilyne.

Mirawara will provide a delicious warm lunch (vegan and gluten free) but please let us know if you have any other dietary requirements. Please bring the client sign up form with you on the day which can be downloaded from our website: Mirawara (on the menu on the top right hand-side, click on contact and the form will be there). For more information and booking: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/basket-weaving-with-dja-dja-wurrung-elder-marilyne-nicholls-tickets-649419821167?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

Rewilding and nature connection workshop with Claire Dunn and Dan Amrein, 17th Sept 2023, Leanganook

A family-friendly introductory course in wilderness survival skills, bush crafts, deep nature connection with rewilding guides Claire Dunn, Daniel Amrein and Yonke van Geloven. This workshop at Leanganook will include fire-by-friction, foraging for edible weeds, natural fibre rope making, deep ecology, nature connection games and so much more.

MENTORS

Claire Dunn Founder of Nature’s Apprentice and author.

Claire is a writer, speaker, barefoot explorer, rewilding facilitator and founder of Nature’s Apprentice. Claire is passionate about human rewilding and believes that a reclaiming of our ecological selves and belonging is key to regenerating wildness on the planet.

For the last 15 years, Claire has been facilitating individuals to dive deeply into the mysteries of nature and psyche through the pathways of deep nature connection, ancestral earth skills, deep ecology, ecopsychology, soulcentric nature-based practice, village building, dance, ceremony and contemporary wilderness rites-of-passage.

Claire is the author of memoir My Year Without Matches, which tells the story of her year living wild. Her recently released memoir Rewilding the Urban Soul explores how we might embody wild consciousness within a modern city context. Claire lives in Warburton with her partner Dan, where they are enjoying the wild and deep journey of parenthood.

When we apprentice ourselves to nature, to the wilds both inside and outside of us, we can awaken into our full potential, our senses alive, our visions and passions on fire.” https://www.naturesapprentice.com.au/

 

Daniel Amrein.

Facilitator and Vision Quest Guide

Daniel (Dan) Amrein is a carpenter-builder and father of three living in the village of Warburton in the Yarra Valley. Dan’s first Vision Quest was at the age of 16 in the Lakota tradition, and since then the ceremony has been a powerful consistent thread and guiding principle in his life, both as Quester, and Guide. Dan is passionate about the power of earth-based ceremony in its different forms as a tool for healing and growth. You will often find him running long distances, tending his garden, baking bread, tracking the trails of his mountain home, and spending sweet time with his partner and co-guide Claire.

 

Yonke van Geloven, Facilitator

Yonke is a mother, teacher, farmer and rewilding facilitator. She facilitates community gatherings on her honeybee, permaculture property ‘La Fleur de Soul’ in Central Victoria such as seasonal celebrations, moon gatherings, olive harvest festival, dandelion festival etc. She is passionate about deep listening to the sacred wild for healing. Always in wander and wonder, she is co learning the crafts which bring us into deeper relationship with nature and the more than human world.

 

bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/rewilding-and-nature-connection-workshop-with-claire-dunn-and-dan-amrein-tickets-649494043167?aff=oddtdtcreator

 

Rock-climbing weekend at Dyuritte (Mt Arapiles), 23-24th Sept 2023

Come and enjoy a memorable and exciting weekend of rock-climbing at one of the most popular rock-climbing site in Australia, Mt Arapiles (Dyuritte) on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th of September. Our guide will show you the basic of rock-climbing, teaching you about different rock-climbing techniques, knots skills, belaying and so much more. The weekend will start on Saturday at 10 am at Bush Ranger Bluff for some top-roping skills, followed by lunch at 12 noon (BYO) and more climbing from 1-4 pm. On Sunday, we will be heading out to the Organ Pipes for more serious climbing with the possibility of doing a multi-pitch. Our guides will be available from 10 am until 4 pm each day. Participants will need to bring all camping equipment and food for the weekend. Camping fees are covered in the cost and the camping location will be at the Lower Gum campsite . Please don’t forget to bring your client sign up form with you on the day which is available on our website at mirawara.org. bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/rock-climbing-weekend-at-dyuritte-mt-arapiles-23-24th-sept-2023-tickets-658116091947?aff=oddtdtcreator 

 

Mt Arapiles framed by trees.

 

 

 

Rock-climbing and abseiling at Mt Macedon, 4th March 2023

As part of our Autumn program, Mirawara is heading out for a beautiful afternoon of climbing and abseiling at one of our favourite local mountain, Mt Macedon, on Saturday 4th March. We will be meeting at the Camels Hump car-park at 2 pm. We will then heading out to the Camels Hump lookout for an thrilling abseil and a rock-climb experience . Looking forward to see you out there!

for bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/rock-climbing-and-abseiling-at-camels-hump-mt-macedon-4th-march-2023-tickets-559967145807

 

basket weaving with Dja Dja Wurrung elder Marilyne Nicholls, 20th Nov

Come and spend a day with well-known elder and master weaver Aunty Marilyne Nicholls and learn how to weave traditional baskets. Aunty Marilyne will take you on a cultural walk around Walmer to talk about different materials you can use to weave baskets before settling into our beautiful rustic studio to learn how to weave your own basket. You will have a chance to learn about Dja Dja Wurrung culture and hear beautiful stories from Aunty Marilyne. Mirawara will provide a delicious warm lunch (vegan and gluten free) as well as afternoon tea (please let us know if you have any dietary requirements). Please bring the client sign up form with you on the day which can be downloaded from our website: Mirawara (on the menu on the top right hand-side, click on contact and the form will be there). If you have any queries, feel free to contact Emmanuelle on 0437 172 786.

bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/basket-weaving-with-dja-dja-wurrung-elder-marilyne-nicholls-20th-nov-tickets-413150733967

 

Rewilding workshop at Leanganook with Leafy Adventures, Sunday 13th Nov

Rewilding workshop at Leanganook: fire-by-friction, foraging, string making, bird language, basic land navigation and nature connection.

Humanity is at a cross-road, for far too long we have forgotten our wild roots and our deep connection to the Earth. We have been taken on a wild ride, embedded in a system that has diminishes our precious life systems, our sacred home. However, in these important times, many of us can hear the wild calling us, a deep longing inside our bones and deep inside our hearts. Nature is calling us back, remembering the songs and dance of our ancestors, our light footprints upon her forever changing landscapes.

This journey will bring you deeper into the heart of our Wild Nature through the skills that our ancestors mastered long ago.

The timeline for the day will be:

10:00 am: Acknowledgement of Country and logistics .

10:30 am-12:30 pm: Wild Wondering: basic land navigation, deep nature connection activities, tracking, bird language, foraging, finding water and bush-tucker.

12:30-1:30 pm: Lunch (B.Y.O), wild weed salad and damper tasting.

1.30-3:30 pm: string making with Emmanuelle and fire-by-friction with Leafy.

3.30-4:00 pm: Sharing circle.

Please make sure to bring our client sign up form available on our website Mirawara (on the top right corner click on contact). Please bring warm clothes, waterproof jacket, hat, sun-scream, plenty of water and your own lunch.

bookings: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/rewilding-workshop-with-leafy-adventures-at-leanganook-castlemaine-tickets-411038205337

info: Emmanuelle Dubuc on 0437 172 786

The Uluru Statement from the Heart at work in our Shire

Our course “Shaping our history together, a narrative to stop racism” concluded last week with a cultural walk at Mt Dharrengower (Mt Tarrangower) with Dja Dja Wurrung elder, Aunty Marilyne Nicholls. The 9 weeks course came as a response to the Statement from the Heart, where Traditional Owners across the country, are seeking a Makarrata Commission to supervise the agreement making process between government and First Nations and truth-telling about their history (Statement from the Heart, 2017).

During their weekly sessions with Aunty Marilyne and other Dja Dja Wurrung representatives, the participants learnt about the importance of our local Indigenous culture, our common history since colonisation and talked about ways to reduce racism in our community.

We would like to send many thanks to Aunty Marilyne Nicholls for sharing her precious time with us, helping us understand and heal our common humanity for a better future. Also, many thanks to the people who participated in this pilot program. We are hoping to run a similar project next year so please send your expression of interest at eedubuctimson@gmail.com or through our website at mirawara.org.

school holiday program: rock-climbing at Leanganook on 14th April 2022

Come and enjoy a beautiful Autumn afternoon at Leanganook (Mt Alexander) for some basic rope knowledge and climbing skills. We will be climbing at the well-known granite outcrop located at Dog Rocks. This time of the year is splendid on the mountain as the light reflects that last warm rays of the summer just gone. We hope to see you out there!

https://www.eventbrite.com.au/o/mirawara-14769924778