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At Numbulwar School on the remote western coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the NT, every student gets to choose a book from our Book Supply program and take it home to keep. Both Wubuy and Kriol are spoken in the community, with Australian English being the language used at school, where every year each class teacher holds an afternoon tea for their students’ families. This enables them to meet everyone — but the key part of the event is the handing out of books. “We have a big focus on reading here,” says Joanne Pickering, Senior Teacher at...
In the paediatric ward of Mount Isa Hospital in the Gulf Country region of far north-western Queensland, books from the ILF Book Supply Program are being gifted to kids when they’re admitted to hospital. Some of these hospitalised children live locally, in and around the town. But many come from more remote areas such as Mornington Island, Normanton and Doomadgee, often being flown into Mount Isa by the Royal Flying Doctor Service RFDS). Few of these children have books at home, and while in hospital many are separated from their family and friends. “When they’re admitted to the ward I...
Milikapiti School on Melville Island has been receiving books from our Foundation for seven years now. And they are continuing to make a difference in the small community to the north of Darwin in the Timor Sea. As part of the Families as First Teachers FaFT) program, each week babies and toddlers at Milikapiti are discovering the joys of books and reading. “Many of the parents haven’t had exposure to books themselves in their early years,” explains Suzanne Brogan, an Early Childhood Teacher at the school. “And the parents love it, showing their babies the pictures and pointing at things....
In the outer islands of the Torres Strait, there are no bookshops, hardly any libraries and very few books in homes. But island by island, books from our Book Supply program are making their way into kids’ lives. Speech language pathologists based at Tagai State College on Thursday Island regularly visit 17 campuses across the Strait, working with school children whose speech and language development is delayed. They meet with the families and encourage parents to read with their kids, stressing that they don’t necessarily need to read every page of every book, and that looking at the pictures and talking...
In the Top End, a women and children’s crisis centre received books from our Book Supply Program for the first time last year. Dawn House in Darwin, which has been running since the early 1970s, offers accommodation to families who have been forced to flee their homes and communities as a result of domestic violence. Often this entails disruptions to schooling and leaving all belongings behind, including toys and books. “The books are a welcome gift for our clients and also assist the Children’s Support Workers to build rapport with clients,” says Jenna Taylor, who works at the centre. When Jenna...
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation works as an initiative of the Australian Book Industry with the support of:
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation is registered with the ACNC and is a Public Benevolent Institution with DGR1 and TCC status. ABN 45 146 631 843.
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