Yakanarra schoolchildren and authors Arnelle Moora, left, Zion Cox and Takianah Vanbee in Sydney's Hyde Park, on the way to Canberra to launch their books. Picture: Sam Mooy Source: TheAustralian
THE kids from the Yakanarra community school in the remote Kimberley are young and isolated from the world, but they've just become authors in two languages.
Today, more than 3000km from home, the group of 24 students is nervously preparing to launch two books at the National Library of Australia, in Canberra.
The process of publishing has been more than a year in the making, a hands-on tilt at tackling widespread, low English literacy rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
In remote communities, only one in five indigenous students meets minimum reading benchmarks in English.
"From my point of view, this has always been about giving them access to choices in the future," principal Helen Unwin said.
"These kids are not illiterate -- they speak their first language and creole -- but the world of English needs to be opened up for them."
The children, aged seven to 15, wrote and illustrated books about their lives among the rust-coloured ranges, about 80km south of Fitzroy Crossing in Western Australia.
Elders Jessie Moora and Mary Vanbee translated the books, titled A Yakanarra Day and The Yakanarra Dogs, into their first language -- Walmajarri -- so the children could read them side-by-side with the English texts. Indigenous Literacy Foundation executive director Karen Williams said it was crucial to boost English proficiency for the children without throwing away their first language skills.
"The foundation has books like The Very Hungry Caterpillar translated into first languages alongside the English because we recognise the importance of learning English while not losing their own language," she said.
"We've helped supply more than 100,000 books to communities like this in the past four years but for these students to be so intimately involved in making a book, it really helped them see the inherent value of the material.
"We saw this sort of magical transformation with the kids."
The reward has been an adventure on the way to Canberra -- six hours by car, a flight from Broome to Sydney and from Sydney to the national capital -- where they saw Sydney Harbour, the Opera House and snow for the first time.
"They're very nervous because they'll be singing at the launch but, on the other hand, the kids have been shown where a book can take them," Ms Unwin said.
Ms Williams said it was vital the students learned about language through subjects they could relate to.
The children are a long way from the yellow moon behind the hills, the cool creek water and bright stars they wrote about so affectionately.
The last line written by the senior students proved a fitting sign-off. "This is our place, Yakanarra," it reads.
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