g-oz projects

A key component of the program that Girls from Oz offers is the opportunity for selected participants to travel to the east coast of Australia to share in cultural exchange with peer-aged members of the Australian Girls Choir. In August 2010, twelve Halls Creek girls were hosted by AGC families in Melbourne, and in November six travelled to Sydney. Host families and the Halls Creek girls expressed excitement and nervousness before meeting each other, but while many identified differences in lifestyle between the remote East Kimberley community and the suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney, it was also clear that connections were formed easily and many common interests shared.

As well as playing tourist in both Melbourne and Sydney, the girls from Halls Creek participated in rehearsals with the Australian Girls Choir, attended choir concerts and even did some performing of their own; in Sydney at the iconic Sydney Opera House. Opportunities were also provided to visit Indigenous agencies and to explore study and career options. Possibly most exciting, the Governor-General, who had visited the girls in Halls Creek in May, arranged for them to perform at an event in Melbourne and invited them to share afternoon tea with her at Admiralty House in Sydney.

Four Girls from Oz team members participated in the final week-long visit to Halls Creek in the last week of October. Kylie Lee-Archer, Sonia Dunn and Jess Daniel welcomed jazz singer and teacher Sally Gawley to the team and set off for Halls Creek a bit nervous about the predicted heat.

As it turned out we were fortunate to visit during a week the locals called ‘freakishly cool’ with temperatures in the high twenties and low thirties. The cool weather enabled the children, teenagers and the g-oz team to throw ourselves into our high energy activities - Jess’ dancing in particular!

An exciting development in our final 2010 program was the inclusion of Halls Creek’s Junior and Middle Primary students. Together the students had shared a taste of Girls from Oz when they learnt a dance to perform for Her Excellency the Governor General in May but we hadn’t been able to schedule any sessions until now. The joy and enthusiasm that the children (and their teachers!) displayed during the g-oz sessions was very exciting and we were especially thrilled to see the ‘boot scootin’ dance that the Junior Primary students had prepared with their teachers for assembly.

As always, our focus was on the adolescent and teenage girls, and it was a pleasure to work with girls who had been involved in the program since March – a number who had travelled to Melbourne with us in August – and to build upon the trust and learning we had established together. The itinerant nature of family life in and around Halls Creek means that we often have new faces in our group and, while it can prove challenging introducing new girls, it’s also very exciting to see more and more girls and young women engaging with the opportunities being provided.

On our final night in Halls Creek for 2010 we enjoyed our first ever Halls Creek disco! All of our dancing during our four visits paid off as we danced the night away at the Halls Creek Shire Hall. The Girls from Oz team is very much looking forward to returning to Halls Creek in 2011 and building on our work with the children and girls at Halls Creek District High School!

We were really excited to deliver our first program at Carwatha P-12 College in Noble Park, Melbourne. g-oz team members, Vicki King and Kylie Lee-Archer worked closely with AGC Alumnus Liza Greaves who is a Year Level Coordinator at the school to design the program. A small group of students from year 7 and 8 were selected to participate in the program which consisted of a variety of Performing Arts activities.

The program was funded by the Rotary Club of Noble Park and we’re very grateful for their support.

The girls and boys are absolutely loving the program and want to do it every day!!! They have been asking me if it can go for the whole year, so well done on an awesome program, we sometimes find it really hard to engage these kids and everyone of them is engaged with Girls from Oz!