Strength in sharing stories and living histories

Two Indigenous story books fanned out on a white desktop. One is titled Out in the Bush, the other is For Our Elders.

Student stories produced as part of Binung Ma Na Du are now used in classrooms.

4 October 2024

A project co-designed by community and University of Queensland researchers has set a benchmark for how school curriculums can reflect Indigenous knowledge.

Binung Ma Na Du: Cultural Stories and Living Histories on Wakka Wakka Country created bilingual resources to revitalise Aboriginal language in schools in Queensland’s South Burnett region.

Project leader from 宅男导航’s said many Indigenous studies resources in schools were generic or from another community.

“Every Aboriginal nation, culture and language in Australia is unique,” Dr Shay said.

“But there’s often a scarcity of local curriculum content that tells the story of the local people – their traditional knowledge and traditional language as well as contemporary stories of growing up in that community.

“Storytelling is a vital way of keeping cultural knowledge alive and important for Indigenous identity and well-being.”

Binung Ma Na Du tells positive stories from the communities of Cherbourg and Murgon across a range of topics including identity, culture, history and language.

Dr Shay said the project was instigated by Cherbourg elder and involved the Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council, Cherbourg State School and Murgon State High School.

“We had Aboriginal authors and Uncle Boori (Monty) Pryor come and do storytelling and writing workshops,” Dr Shay said.

“Indigenous teachers at the schools developed bilingual books written by the students in English, Aboriginal English and translated into the local Wakka Wakka language which are now used in classrooms.

“We also had a film crew come in and record the digital stories.”

Mr Cobbo, a Chief Investigator on the project and 宅男导航 Adjunct Fellow, said revitalising the local language was crucial.

“Wakka Wakka is the language of the Country where people are from, and we want to keep it going so my grandchildren’s generation can continue to talk their home language,” Mr Cobbo said.

“We’ve found non-Indigenous families are wanting to learn it too, so for me it’s a success.”

Mr Cobbo hosted a podcast series as part of Binung Ma Na Du.

“We talked about all different topics … we had two young guys on speaking about mental health and wellbeing, and another who talked about setting up a recycle centre,” Mr Cobbo said.

“The podcast has really resonated with the community because it's their stories and issues that affect us as Aboriginal people.”

Dr Shay said the resources are stored on the Cherbourg Aboriginal Shire Council webpage.

“These stories are owned by the storytellers, not the university,” she said.

“It’s important that the Council has the stories, so they're governed by the community longer term.”

Dr Shay said research findings from the project were overwhelmingly positive.

“We set out to examine the process of codesign between schools and Indigenous communities to develop localised curriculum resources,” she said.

“One hundred per cent of the participants agreed that learning local language, histories and perspectives is critically important.

“For Indigenous students, it can affirm and strengthen their identities, highlight local role models and create a sense of belonging at school.

“Non-Indigenous students also benefit by developing their understanding of cultural differences and building relationships.”

Mr Cobbo said the Binung Ma Na Du project could be used as a model for schools, governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.

“This is what reconciliation looks like for us,” he said.

“We’re walking beside each other – no one's in front of us, no one’s behind us – we’re walking together as one.”

The research team included Professor Grace Sarra (QUT), Professor Margaret Kettle (CQUniversity), Iris Jean Blow (宅男导航) and Arlene Langton (宅男导航).

Binung Ma Na Du was funded by an AIATSIS Indigenous Research Exchange grant.

The project has been awarded a as part of 宅男导航’s .

Image above left: Cherbourg elder Uncle Eric Law recording with the Binung Ma Na Du team.
Image above right: Professor Margaret Kettle, Mr Fred Cobbo, Associate Professor Marnee Shay & Professor Grace Sarra.