January
February - West Footscray did it again
March - 400 Books to Ceduna
CentreMikayla and Sam, our BnB volunteers generously dropped off 400 books at Ceduna Childcare Centre in South Australia. They started their journey in Naarm and headed off to help Aunty Sue Haseldine clean watering holes in Ceduna before crossing the Nullarbor plains to Nyoongar nation to view the spectacular solar eclipse.
CWhat a deadly couple and proud BnB volunteers. Thank you, Sam and Mikayla! The books were received with joy by staff at the Ceduna Childcare entre.
April - Launch of the Aunty Eleanor Harding Tutoring Program
We launched our Aunty Eleanor Tutoring Program! The program provides support to First Nations children across Naarm.
The service is FREE thanks to our wonderful volunteers. Children receive one-on-one sessions for literacy, maths and general support with homework. The sessions incorporate cultural activities and children's literature written by Blak authors.
Sessions take a relational/ mentoring approach with the intent of building confidence and strong and proud cultural identities for our Booris ❤💛🖤Meet Ellie, one of our volunteer tutor!
May -
June -
July -
Look what happened during NAIDOC week - the booris on Palm Island got some books!!
500 books were collected, sorted and sent to Lucinda from Naarm, and shipped via a barge to Palm island. The Palm Island Project was proudly supported by the Morris Family Foundation. Thank you to Amy Huva from the foundation for the incredible support. Look at the smiles :)
August -
September - Hello Echuca!
1500 books arrived at their destination this afternoon in Echuca Victoria, and look at all those happy booris. We are so lucky to have Steve Gledden and Jakub from Straight Bat Private Equity drive the books to Njernda Aboriginal Co-op - the Medical Centre and Berrimba Child Care Centre. Thank you to everyone involved in the planning; Maria, Kylie, Kath, Verona and Sunny.
October -Uncle Larry
We are lucky to have Uncle Larry Walsh as our Books n Boots ambassador. Uncle Larry Walsh is a treasured Elder from Naarm. He has contributed to many organisations and cultural events over the years – Footscray Community Arts Centre (FCAC); the First Peoples exhibition at Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Melbourne Museum; and the Tanderrum celebration at the Melbourne Festival.
Uncle Larry describes himself as a pure storyteller. He sees his focus on the oral tradition – the story as an important expression and element of Aboriginal culture. He wishes to display that Aboriginal people live in the modern world as intimately as they are connected to their past.
November - N'arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM
haveWe’re excited to introduce our new Ambassador N’arweet Dr Carolyn Briggs AM to the BnB family. N’arweet Dr. Carolyn Briggs AM is a Boonwurrung elder from Victoria who is recognised as a keeper of the history and genealogies of her people. N’arweet is a language and linguistics expert dedicated to recording her Boonwurrung language in oral and written form. She has been active in community development, Native Title, cultural preservation and cultural promotion. For many years she ran the Tjanabi restaurant in Melbourne, which specialised in contemporary Aboriginal cooking, promoted the Boonwurrung culture and became ‘the place to meet’ for Indigenous people. N’arweet established Australia’s first Aboriginal childcare centre and is CEO of the Boonwurrung Foundation, which she set up to help connect Aboriginal youth to their heritage. Her cultural knowledge and experience has been recognised by communities throughout Australia. We’re thrilled to have N’arweet with us!
December - That's a wrap!
Goodbye to our outgoing board Director Lisa Thorpe. Thankyou for your time with the Books n Boots team. In December, we formally
welcomed Clayton Murray-Mitchell to our Board. Meet Marla, Clayton and John - the engine room of Books n Boots. Thank you for your dedication to improving the lives of our
booris and their communities. We are grateful for your energy, skills, input
and guidance. Here's to a wonderful 2023 and we look forward to your leadership
in 2024.
