Ten juniors from Canteen Creek and five from Arlparra travelled to Darwin last week for the third National Indigenous Tennis Carnival.

The children were treated to an unforgettable experience, which included a first plane ride and a use of an escalator for some of the children.

Along with playing plenty of tennis the children saw a rehearsal of Evonne Goolagong’s play Sunshine Super Girl which she has based on her life, a trip to the aqua park and a morning of cultural activities such as fire making, creating string from plant leaves, yoga and also a session with the deadly hip hop dance mob.

Even with all the excitement the children were very well behaved, and managed to make new friends from different communities.

On the final evening the Barkly juniors were asked to create an artwork on canvas to demonstrate their culture and they were presented their culture to the rest of the juniors.

Clayton Daniels Youth Sport and Rec Officer for Arlparra painted a beautiful Sandover Lilly and Honey Ant.

Finally both teams took part in a cultural exchange activity in front of their fellow peers.

They were confident enough to stand up and talk about their community and culture!

Canteen Creek presented photos of kangaroo tail and cooking them from start to finish as well as much more.

Arlparra explained to the group about their totems and Clayton talked about their language and his family members and their Dreamtime which are kangaroo, emu and honey ant.

All in all an excellent experience for these youth of the Barkly to take part in this event, not only for the sport, but for social, cultural and new experiences.

This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 19 August 2022.