Goannas, sharks and eagles feature on a possum cloak being created by a group of students at Katoomba High School.
Phoebe Knox said the creatures were the totems of some of the girls’ Indigenous tribes.
“On the inside we’ve burnt our totems and a few other things as well. It will be here for years to come and passed down from generation to generation,” she said.
Aunty Sue Tate is working with the girls on the possum cloak project.
“It’s about identity and connecting to country and feeling comfortable with who they are,” she said.
Possum cloaks were traditionally made and used as clothing by Aborigines on the east coast. Babies were wrapped in cloaks of five pelts, with the number increasing as the child grew. The Katoomba girls’ cloak has 18 pelts, all sourced from New Zealand.
Creating the cloak - which they will leave at the school - has given them insights into their heritage.
Phoebe said: “It’s made me feel like I know who I am now, instead of being afraid at the start.”
Ellie-May Glover said she knew some of her culture from her mother “so I had some little bits in my head but here I get more out of it. Mum is so excited about how much I’ve been learning at school.”
The project is an initiative of Deadlee Gap Inc. funded by the Blue Mountains City Council. It has been co-ordinated by Aunty Sue Tate with Gundungurra elder Aunty Dawn Harris and Wiradjuri elder Aunty Ellie Begg.