ILF was founded in 2004 by Suzy Wilson, an educator and the owner of Riverbend Books,
with the aim of addressing the levels of literacy in remote communities. It aimed
to provide books to Indigenous communities, particularly remote communities where
children often grow up with little or no ability to read.
Can you imagine a world without books and reading?
In 2004 The Riverbend Readers’ Challenge began with a simple question that inspired
school students to join up to read and raise funds. That year 112 Queensland schools
joined and school students read over 38,000 books and raised $25,000. In 2005, the
Riverbend Readers’ Challenge continued to grow and parents, teachers, book clubs
and business organisations participated alongside schools.
In 2005, Suzy Wilson lobbied and gained the support of the Australian Book Industry
and its major bodies, the Australian Publishers Association, the Australian Booksellers
Association and the Australian Society of Authors. The Australian Readers’ Challenge
was formed to raise funds and advocate.
In 2006 the Australian Readers’ Challenge (ARC) was launched in partnership with
The Fred Hollows Foundation and Ian Thorpe’s Fountain for youth Trust. Over 350
schools, 48 bookshops and publishers, and 64 public libraries participated and 150,000
books were read. The ARC raised $80,000 for the purchase of books in three remote
communities near Katherine in Northern Territory.
In 2007 the Australian Readers Challenge simplified its fundraising efforts and
evolved to become The Indigenous Literacy Project. The largely voluntary organisation
was a partnership between the Australian Book Industry and The Fred Hollows Foundation
and it launched Indigenous Literacy Day, with the aim of raising $100,000. And with
the support of publishers, booksellers, schools, authors and libraries around Australia,
over $250,000 was raised.
In 2008 Thérèse Rein became Patron of the project and over 300 schools, 300 booksellers
and publishers around Australia raised $300,000 on Indigenous Literacy Day.
In 2009 the project had broadened its campaign and had a full time Indigenous Literacy
Co-ordinator who was employed by its partner, The Fred Hollows Foundation. That
year, over 160 communities received books from funds raised by the project. In addition,
an early literacy strategy, Book Buzz, was launched to be trialled in three remote
locations in WA, NSW and NT. Over $377,000 was raised on Indigenous Literacy Day.
By 2010 the program had expanded dramatically. Over 60,000 books were distributed
in 24 months to over 200 communities in WA, SA, QLD, NT and parts of NSW. In addition
to book supply, the project supported literacy initiatives that remote communities
requested. Five Community Identified Projects were funded and they included translating
books into local languages, recording Indigenous stories and writing a children’s
book as a community. The project continued to work in partnership with literary
festivals, libraries, associations and other business to help raise the profile
and $609,000 was raised.
In 2011 with the encouragement and support of its former partner, the Indigenous
Literacy Project became an independent Foundation with full charity status. It remains
committed to improving literacy levels to improve the lives and opportunities of
Indigenous Australians living in remote communities.