Indigenous Literacy Day 2023

Celebrating Stories, Cultures and Languages  

Wednesday 6 September marks Indigenous Literacy Day, a day to boost awareness surrounding the hard work that Communities around Australia are putting in to ensure that Indigenous Children have access to reading materials.

Indigenous Literacy Day is also a day to highlight the importance of all First Nations People being able to have access to resources that represent them, are in their languages, and have their intellectual property protected when creating their own materials – a great way to find these reading materials within the collection at YPRL is to search “Deadly Collection” in our catalogue, or ask library staff in branch! 

In highly isolated or rural Communities, there is sometimes no infrastructure such as libraries or bookstores, the mission of the Indigenous Literacy Foundation is to ensure these Communities have access to quality resources, including books written in First Languages, as well as helping to publish books conceived, written and illustrated by First Nations communities.  

The importance of helping children develop strong skills in comprehension; whether it be written, visual or auditory cannot be understated, it’s also incredibly important for First Nations Children to see their language, culture and identity depicted through these works. 

The Community Publishing Projects developed by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation works with Communities to make some of these books possible through publishing.

You may have even come across some of the books published by the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in our catalogue, here are a few:

My Body by Maureen Yanawana 

This bright, beautiful and fun board book is perfect for the youngest readers to learn the names of various parts of the body.

I Saw, We Saw by Nhulunbuy Primary School

Life for the Yolnu students who live near or around Nhulunbuy, a small town in north-east Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory, revolves around the sea, whether it be hunting, fishing or playing. There's always something to see and do and this has been the inspiration for this stunningly illustrated book. The spreads follow the theme of 'I saw ... We saw...' but there's plenty more to see on each page as readers will discover.

Can You Dance? by Sally Morgan

Written by one of Australia's best loved authors, this board book will get toddlers and preschoolers up off their feet following the actions of the animals featured in the book. They'll soon be flapping their arms like a scary magpie's wings, stomping their feet like a cheeky wombat and dancing like a silly lizard, along with the actions of five other animals.

Yakanarra song book : about our place in Walmajarri and English

Words by Jessie Wamarla Moora, Mary Purnjurr Vanbee and the children of Yakanarra Community School with Chris Aitken and Alison Lester ; illustrations by the children from the Yakanarra Community School with Alison Lester

In this fabulous book ore fourteen songs, ten in Wolmajarri language and four in English, all beautifully illustrated by the kids from the Yakanarra Community School. There are songs about how the Wolmajarri come to Yakanarra, their special places, the animals and birds and the sounds that they make, hunting, fishing and collecting bush food, and more. The songs, sung to the tunes of well known classics, were written to help the kids at Yakanarra speak Wolmajarri, but this is a book to be treasured and enjoyed by everyone.

The Goanna was Hungry & Other Stories

by children from the Spinifex Writing Camp with Ann James & Sally Morgan

Imagine being at a camp in the Great Victorian Desert in Western Australia with two of Australia's best-loved author/illustrators and working with them to produce your very own illustrated story. Ten lucky kids had just such an opportunity. The illustrated stories they produced at the camp were so special the Indigenous Literacy Foundation put them together in this book for all to read and enjoy.

Hello, Hello by Indigenous Literacy Foundation

Story read by Tony Briggs.

A family is walking home on a very dark night. It's hard to see clearly - what is that shadow? And what is that noise? Turn the pages of this intriguing and atmospheric book and join the family as they discover what the dark night is hiding.

Borrowing books from our Deadly Collection and reading them aloud with young children is a great first step to acknowledging the importance of First Nations stories and getting involved this Indigenous Literacy Day! You might even consider donating or just having a look at the Indigenous Literacy Foundations website, as they have a plethora of informative resources.  

Our recent Spring Book Sale over the weekend was not only to help us clear space for new items on our shelves and provide cheap, good quality books for you to take home, but the money raised from these sales has also gone towards the Indigenous Literacy Foundation! We're excited that the money raised will help in continuing the Foundations work in providing these important reading materials and Community publications within Indigenous Communities.  

Thanks to everyone that stopped by over the weekend to our Spring Book Sales at Ivanhoe, Thomastown and Eltham! Your donations have gone towards an excellent cause.