Each year, Collingwood invites a new crop of AFL and AFLW players, staff, executive, and board for a one-of-a-kind cultural immersion program in Tennant Creek.
It's all part of the Club's Barrawarn initiative and ongoing commitment to cultural learning and community engagement.
Tennant Creek is situated 500km north of Alice Springs, and lies within Collingwood's Next Generation Academy (NGA) zone. The cultural immersion program focuses on fostering meaningful connection, deepening understanding and working Side by Side with the local community.
Across the 2025 program, follow this blog as 24-year-old AFL recruit Jack Buller provides insights into his experiences, as he immerses himself in the culture of the Warumungu people.
Day One
Date: Wednesday 26 November
Weather: 39°C ☀️
Itinerary: Tennant Creek (Warumungu) | Purkiss Reserve Football Oval → Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre → Purkiss Reserve Football Oval
We got to the oval at about 6:30am for a training session on our first morning in Tennant Creek before the heat really kicked in. Then, we sweated it out even more by hitting the gym next door. It was great - all the Collingwood admin staff joined in. We even had a push-up competition all together and (Club President) Barry Carp and a few board members jumped in too.
Once we wrapped up training, we freshened up and walked over to the Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre, where we learned more about the culture here in Tennant Creek. They told us a powerful story of the Nyinkka lizards, which is the tale of the spiked lizard versus the crow. It was incredible to hear.
After that, we split up into male and female groups, to take part in 'Men’s and Women’s Business' and dive even deeper into our cultural understanding. During 'Men’s Business', it was amazing to learn how they make their own mud bricks. They’re building appropriate housing using natural elements from Warumungu Country, like termite mounds and spinifex. The Nyinkka Nyunyu Art and Culture Centre we visited earlier was built from these same mud bricks.
It was inspiring to see the work they’re doing and how they’re building their own homes with their own materials as well as how united they are in that. They drove us around town and shared what it’s like growing up locally. It really opened my eyes to how different it is from Western society and how important culture is.
If you can believe it, it's hot up here. It felt like we hit over 40 degrees at one stage, but the locals were still walking around barefoot like it was nothing, while I was struggling! Still, it’s been a great day.
We’ve just finished up at the local community barbeque. About 100-150 kids and families came down to say hello and we had a little kick-to-kick on the oval. I absolutely loved it - just seeing the impact we can have and the big smiles on everyone’s faces.
One of the highlights for me personally is coming into the Club and getting to know everyone on a deeper level too. Being out here and building strong connections with everyone has been really special.
It really is all about connection.
- JB
Day Two
Date: Thursday 27 November
Weather: 41°C ☀️
Itinerary: Tennant Creek (Warumungu) | Tingkkarli / Lake Mary Ann → Kunjarra / The Pebbles → Mungkarta → Barkly Regional Arts Centre → Battery Hill, Bill Allen Lookout
On day two, we had the chance to explore the surrounds of Tennant Creek more. Our guide, Aunty Jacqui, was great. She talked to us about the town’s history and it was pretty cool learning how it got its name.
Apparently, John (McDouall) Stuart was the first explorer in the area and he was best mates with a guy called ‘Tennant’, so the name stuck.
Aunty Jacqui took us to some iconic landmarks, like Lake Mary Ann and the The Pebbles. Hearing her personal insight about spirituality and the rocks gave me shivers. You hear about this sort of stuff in the classroom, but when you see it firsthand, it's pretty surreal.
Another highlight of the tour was hearing about the Australian megafauna, which I personally didn't know was a thing! She talked about wombat-like animals the size of four or five metres tall that used to wander around Country back then, so it would’ve been a ‘kill or be killed’ mentality for the locals.
It's pretty crazy to think to survive, you would’ve had to be moving around these mega animals to go to the sorts of places we visited.
Then, the group split up into two and we went to visit the local primary schools.
A group of us went to Mungkarta, which was a little bit different for us because there weren't too many kids around. But it was quite confronting to see how remote it was and how they work off so little.
We met the principal; the headmaster you'd call it. He was from the United States and heard his story about how he ended up in Tennant Creek and the inspirations he gets from being a mentor for these kids - giving them life skills that they otherwise wouldn't get was really impressive.
And then after that we went to the Barkly Regional Arts Centre and had a look at their paintings. Oh, the centre was unreal. A few people from the Club bought some of their artwork which is a huge credit to the their talent and the quality of art they’re making.
There were so much detail and depth in every piece. Some of these artists were saying they’ve been painting for six decades and you could see the years of experience. It felt good knowing that the money spent there was going straight back into the community, supporting the artists and their programs.
Across the road was their music centre and it was incredible to see their recording studio and how they make the music. Their chemistry together was a real highlight to see.
After dinner, we all went to Battery Hill Lookout to cap off the day. It wasn’t compulsory for everyone to ‘buy in’ and stargaze, but everyone was keen to stick together so we all continued hanging out. We pulled up star maps on our phones and was trying to piece together the planets and what was what. We were all having a bit of fun, mucking around… there was one cluster that really took our fancy. I think it was in the ‘Taurus constellation.’
Overall, it’s amazing how a place like Tennant Creek can leave you feeling both grounded and inspired.
- JB
Day Three
Date: Friday 28 November
Weather: 40°C ☀️
Itinerary: Tennant Creek (Warumungu) | Tingkkarli / Lake Mary Ann → Kunjarra / The Pebbles → Mungkarta → Barkly Regional Arts Centre → Battery Hill, Bill Allen Lookout
So, it’s our final day in Tennant Creek and to finish off the trip, we drove down to the oval for our last training session in the top end.
We got there around 7.30am, and the temperature was already scorching hot. There wasn’t much wind relief either so the session was really intense.
Deano (AFL Head of Rehabilitation Dean Filopoulos) and Brit (AFLW athlete Brit Bonnici) ran the group through some drills and we worked on a range of different things including aerial efforts, physicality and some touch work. But the biggest aspect of the session was the conditioning, which was extremely difficult in the weather conditions.
A few Hydralytes later, we had a leg/core session at the gym and a final task that all the Collingwood admin staff joined in for. This time, we did a ‘Sally Up-Sally Down’ challenge and this meant all of us left Tennant Creek with matching grass burns on our elbows.
The car ride back to Alice Springs was hilarious.
Angus (Anderson) completely owned the game of ‘Guess Who?’, by asking the most random, oddly specific questions like “does my name start with a vowel?”, “am I real or a mythical creature?”, “am I a single colour, like yellow, green, blue, red, etc.”
Somehow, all of Gus’ chaotic questions led him to the correct answer, which was Shrek.
It was honestly one of the most iconic '21 Questions' that I’ve ever witnessed and it definitely made the car ride back so much quicker.
Wrapping up, I’m heading back home with some incredible memories and learnings that will stick with me forever. The stories from the locals, their kindness making us all feel so welcome, the one-of-a-kind experiences and just getting to know the others at the Club on deeper level has been genuinely amazing.
I’m so grateful I got to be part of it.
- JB
