Media Release
Bilingual First Nations language picture books promote online child safety in Northern Territory communities
Editor’s note: Covers, images of book pages, book downloads and interview grabs available via Hightail
The AFP-led Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation (ACCCE) has drawn on Indigenous creativity, culture and consultation to create two new children’s picture books designed to support education and awareness of online child safety in Northern Territory First Nations communities.
The Wise Emu and the Digital Dingo in Paradise and The Wise Brolga and the Digital Dingo in Paradise have both been released in free, full-colour print and digital formats.
With a target readership of primary school aged children, both are told in English as well as a different First Nations language, chosen to maximise the books’ reach and impact.
For the territory’s Central Region communities, The Wise Emu is told in Western Aranda, which holds major cultural and historical significance. The Wise Brolga, meanwhile, with its focus on the Tiwi Islands in the Top End Region, is translated in Old Tiwi rather than modern, a conscious move designed to create a connection with community Elders and to help preserve the language.
ACCCE Online Child Safety Team leader Kristy Thomson said the project took its lead from the community.
“We recognised from the outset that in order for these online child safety resources to be used in the community, they needed to be developed by the community,” Ms Thomson said.
This included cultural input, translations, illustrations and references, from the wisdom of Elders and the importance of family trees to the dangers of snakes in the grass, the watchful gaze of the Seven Sisters (the Southern Cross) and references to local cultural stories and knowledge.
“We also did a lot of testing in local schools with Indigenous children to make sure the stories resonated with them, especially when it came to the characters,” Ms Thomson said.
AFP NT Senior Prevention Officer Saisha Gore-Khanna wrote both picture books and gave them a similar plotline, centred on a young character called Jarra who is asked for personal photographs by the Digital Dingo. He must navigate the red-flag situation with support from his friend Mali the platypus and a trusted adult whose advice includes:
“Just as you’d never give someone a drink from your waterhole without
knowing their plans or intentions, you mustn’t share personal things online.”
The unique details for each title – such as the different animals serving as a source of wisdom – were shaped by the local environment.
For Ms Gore-Khanna, this included writing Jarra as a kangaroo for the Western Aranda readership and as a wallaby for the Tiwi Islands.
Geography is also shown differently, with The Wise Emu featuring illustrations atop photos of real-life local landscapes and The Wise Brolga bringing Tiwi Island nature, plants and trees to life in stunning watercolours.
It was a very deliberate focus on hyperlocal settings and connection.
“I have learnt what the land, animals and nature mean for our First Nations people, and I wanted to tell the story – as it is a sensitive topic – through animals,” Ms Gore-Khanna said.
This was reflected in the choice of a digital dingo – a fictional character which is deliberately genderless – as the online threat character.
“When I researched the nature of the dingo and the way it moves and the way it traverses the land, it is a skilled hunter and traveller across Country,” she said.
“It can traverse long distances on its own, whether it's night or day. It can cross jungles and waterways. It almost becomes a shape shifter. And that seemed like the perfect animal to represent the threat of the online world.”
The Wise Brolga was translated by Tiwi Islanders Queenie Babui Rosetta Faraone and Jonus Bernardino Babui and illustrated by Tiwi and Torres Strait Islander artist Demaga Warria, who said of her favourite character: “the brolga got my attention with her glamour”.
The Wise Emu was illustrated by Alice Springs Arrernte woman Becky Myers, with translation by Western Aranda linguists David and Lily Roennfeldt and Western Arrernte women Maxine Malbunka and Cassandra Stuart.
Both books were funded under the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Abuse and developed in partnership with organisations, chiefly the Northern Territory Department of Children and Families, Department of Education and Training, Tiwi College and the Association of Independent Schools.
They are available to download online, along with complementary resources such as yarning cards, colouring activities and toolkit lessons.
AFP Commander Human Exploitation Jo Cameron said picture books were an essential resource to help parents, teachers, educators and carers start prevention and awareness conversations with the young people in their lives.
That’s why it was so critical for the Digital Dingo books to speak in multiple languages.
“Language is the foundation for the way we understand our world,” Commander Cameron said.
“That’s why connecting with both First Nations language and English language is so important, because it allows us to transcend any barriers that might exist in spreading education and awareness.
“It means we're actually helping communities to share the message, irrespective of which language they want to use.”
Commander Cameron said the launch of the books was a tangible display of why partnerships mattered in tackling community wide issues.
“The people who have helped and who have shared their lived experience – the community, the elders, the educators and those who have tested our materials – none of this would have happened without partnerships,” she said.
“Our partnerships are strong, trusted and listened to.”
Ms Thomson said early response to the books had been enthusiastic.
“It’s been really great to see the communities that have participated be excited and willing to be involved in these books,” she said.
“The key message I hope children take away from these books is that if anything happens online that they’re not sure about, or feel scared about, there are people they can go and talk to, whether that's a teacher, their parent or carer, an Elder or police.
“Whatever the situation, they deserve to be safe when they're online and there are people trying to keep them safe.”
Notes:
The animals in the stories were created as contemporary, fictional characters to deliver an online safety message to children. They are not intended to represent, replicate, draw upon, or speak to the specific Dreaming, totemic, or ceremonial significance they may hold for particular First Nations peoples, communities or language groups.
The artists who contributed to the book completed the ACCCE’s ThinkUKnow program, which is an evidence-based online safety education program to educate parents, carers and young people about digital safety.
