New children's book celebrates local Indigenous cultures through story, song and dance
Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen with Gold Coast Titans half back and local Beaudesert and Mununjali man Jamal Fogarty.
A new children's book that celebrates the local Yugambeh language was officially launched in Beaudesert today.
The book Jarjum Gurema was funded by the First 5 Forever Program and created in partnership with Mununjalli Housing Development Company Pty Ltd.
Scenic Rim Mayor Greg Christensen said it was important to recognise and celebrate the language, stories and songs of our Indigenous community.
"Jarjum Gurema is a wonderful, colourful and vibrant book that children and adults of all ages will love reading," he said.
"Every page has been beautifully designed with original illustrations to engage the reader and provides easy to read pronunciations of words in the Yugambeh language, allowing families to engage with and learn the language.
"I want to congratulate everyone who was involved in creating this book as I am sure it will be a popular book on the shelves for library visitors to pick up and read."
Gold Coast Titans half back and local Beaudesert and Mununjali man, Jamal Fogarty worked as a Scenic Rim Community Literacy Champion to promote the book and to support a local literacy program for the Scenic Rim's youngest residents.
“It’s pretty special to be the community literacy champion for my hometown and community and I hope I can have a positive impact with this role," he said.
“I hope I can inspire the parents of our children in the community to recognise and understand the importance of reading, singing, playing and dancing with their children.
“I want to share who I am with the kids and normalise that growing up in this community we can achieve things if we really put our minds to it.
"I also want to share with the kids that even though I’m a parent, I’m still learning and educating myself about our local culture, language and history.
“We should be proud of who we are and where we come from and to never be told any different.”
The launch at Jubilee Park included a Welcome to Country, performances by traditional dancers, a reading of the book and activities.
To celebrate the launch of the book, Scenic Rim Libraries will be giving away a free copy of Jarjum Gurema to children under the age of five between 9am and 12pm on Thursday, 30 September at the Beaudesert, Tamborine Mountain, and Canungra libraries. The limit is one book per family, while stocks last.
The First 5 Forever is an initiative of the Queensland Government, coordinated by the State Library of Queensland and delivered in partnership with local government.
Council worked with Scenic Rim Community Literacy Champion Jamal Fogarty to produce a number of videos inspired by Jarjum Gurema. The most recent ones can be found here: