On Wednesday 4 September, we celebrated Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD) with the theme: ‘Be A Proud Voice For Country’, including launching three beautiful new bilingual books.
Our free FILM and LIVESTREAM event was broadcast from the Sydney Opera House, reaching our biggest audience ever of 350,792 people!
You can still register to watch the FILM and LIVESTREAM
Singing up the theme Be A Proud Voice for Country, this year’s FILM took us into three First Nations Communities across Australia: Cunnamulla, Queensland; Vincentia, New South Wales; and the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory.
We enjoyed learning about Booglies (yabbies) and fishing for Gulyu from the riverbank in Cunnamulla, and hearing about what children love about their Community.
Joining teenagers on the beach in Vincentia - playing didge, dancing and exploring culture through poetry and artmaking - we also learned about the “glorious resurgence” of Dhurga language.
Next we travelled across to the Tiwi Islands, hearing beautiful singing and language, the importance of Country, and learning why faces are painted for ceremonies.
This year’s ILD FILM is also being featured at the Shoalhaven First Nations Film Festival, testament to the dedication and talent of ILF’s filmmaking team.
You can still watch this year’s ILD FILM, learning from many Proud Voices about ways children, Elders and families connect with Country.
Following the FILM is a LIVESTREAM from Sydney Opera House of the live celebrations.
Aunty Deb opened the morning with a moving Welcome to Country.
ILF Ambassador Bianca Hunt was a brilliant host, with over 100 First Nations primary school students in the audience joining the singing, dancing and learning from performers this year.
ILF Ambassadors Gregg Dreise and Andy Griffiths were given an important job at this year’s celebrations at the Sydney Opera House: to look after Tjanpi - the cheeky blue papa (dog) with a tricky habit of hiding.
Leaping from the pages of a brand new story, Yaltji Ngayuku Papa? (Where's My Dog?) Tjanpi came all the way from Tjuntjuntjara Community in Western Australia, accompanying eight young authors launching their book on ILD.
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Somewhere in the Opera House, Tjanpi was hiding. Together with host Bianca Hunt, Gregg and Andy’s hilarious search for Tjanpi had the audience in stitches in their quest to describe and find the elusive dog, so the students could get on with the important business of launching their book!
As well as Tjuntjuntjara Community, students from Vincentia High School travelled from Yuin Country to proudly launch their two new books: bagan, barra barra, mirriwarr: The Boys Who Found Their Way and a beautiful poetry collection titled ngayawanj bagan-nggul, ngayawanj barra barra-nggul: We belong to the land, We belong to the sea. Both titles are written in Dhurga and English.
After giving beautiful readings from their poetry collection, audiences were lucky to experience two incredible performances by the Dhaawarri Dancers from Vincentia High School.
In her heartfelt speech, Vincentia Indigenous Educator Jazz Corr shared Aunty Gai’s words:
“How deadly is this, did you ever think that our mob, our kids would be standing at the Opera House launching a book in our language?”
In another highlight for ILD, ILF Ambassador Jessica Mauboy gave a moving performance of Give You Love after speaking about the importance of Country and musical literacy.
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Jessica shared “Storytelling is so important to me. And these books written by these amazing students from Tjuntjuntjara and Vincentia are so deadly, because they're showcasing their stories and culture and language, and making their Community very proud.”
This year’s ILD celebrations culminated in an Australia-wide Busking for Change singalong with ILF Ambassadors Josh Pyke and Justine Clarke. They invited Jessica Mauboy and Gregg Dreise to join them performing Shordi Krik, together with St Andrew’s Gawura school students.
Justine shared that “ Shordi Krik has been written by kids from the Barunga school in the Northern Territory. They wrote it about their local creek and all of the things that they get to do… and we're all going to sing it now across Australia.”
Josh Pyke announced the exciting news that next year’s Busking song will be based on the book: Country Tells Us When.
ILD concluded with an all-in celebration to the deadly sounds of Milkumana by King Stingray. The audience joined dancing and celebrating on stage with ILD performers and Ambassadors and Communities, wrapping up what was a meaningful, joyous ILD.
Indigenous Literacy Day (ILD) is an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Stories, Cultures and Languages.
ILD is proudly presented by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation - a national charity of the Australian book industry - that gives access to books in language for remote First Nations Communities across Australia.
Dont miss out on this joyful performance by
registering to watch the FILM and LIVESTREAM!
As well as celebrations at the Opera House on ILD, students Tjuntjuntjara and Vincentia spent ILD week in Sydney, participating in a bunch of fun activities!
This included visiting Taronga Zoo, SEALIFE Aquarium, Sydney Tower Eye and a cultural tour in Redfern. And even got to sign their books at Sydney’s famous Kinokuniya book store!
It was a special week of celebrating First Nations peoples’ stories, cultures and languages, and exploring new ideas and the big city lights for our out of town visitors.
On Indigenous Literacy Day and everyday, you can celebrate First Nations stories, cultures and languages. We have Teacher Resources developed by ILF Ambassador Shelley Ware and Classroom Activities available for classroom learning.
You can watch the ILD 2024 FILM and LIVESTREAM anytime.
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation works as an initiative of the Australian Book Industry with the support of:
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Indigenous Literacy Foundation is registered with the ACNC and is a Public Benevolent Institution with DGR1 and TCC status.
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