Cultural Training Day with Uncle Ken Jones

Uncle Ken Jones, Boandik Elder and founder of Bush Adventures, is the heartbeat of the Wattle Range Cultural Immersion Program. His influence reaches beyond instruction; it is transformative and deeply personal. At every site, his stories resonate with Country, and his teachings hold space for both healing and learning.

Drawing from his own lived experience, Uncle Ken invites people to slow down, breathe in the salt air, and reawaken their senses to the land’s whispers. His calm authority and deep knowledge guide participants through a journey of understanding, reconciliation, and connection, a reminder that caring for Country begins with listening to it.

Held in the Beachport and Lake George region, this immersive training day, supported by Wattle Range Council, is designed to provide hands-on cultural education tailored for students, professionals, and community members.

The program blends cultural awareness, ecological insight, and practical conservation, offering activities that reflect both traditional and contemporary Aboriginal practices.

Highlights include:

• A welcome gathering and morning tea among ancient tea trees

• Storytelling sessions on sea level rise, massacres, colonisation, and survival

• A beach walk, exploring midden sites, bush medicine, and animal tracks

• Artefact identification and exploration of trading routes and ceremony

• Participation in the Kaantabul whale dance and a ceremonial closing

Uncle Ken leads these activities with deep respect and authenticity, providing a rare opportunity to learn through experience to touch, taste, smell, and respond to Country in real time.

A key philosophy of the day is the idea of “slow time”  an intentional slowing down to allow connection with the environment. This isn’t just poetic, it’s practical. By observing the land’s patterns, students learn how to interpret scats and tracks, identify bush foods and medicines, and understand seasonal shifts and habitat changes.

Each participant receives a personalised field handbook, with space to sketch, reflect, and map their journey part guide, part journal, and part cultural compass.

Beyond skill-building, the program builds bridges between communities. It addresses truth-telling from the Blackfellows Caves massacre to cultural diplomacy and empowers all participants to become custodians of Country in their own way.

Through his role as guide and teacher, Uncle Ken not only educates, he restores connection.

He fosters cultural competence, respect, and environmental stewardship in every participant, reinforcing the idea that knowing Country is the first step to caring for it.