NAIDOC Week 2021: Children share stories and embrace culture through song

CATCHY tunes created by Murraylands children as part of the Stories Through Song project received a strong response online when shared during National NAIDOC Week 2021.
The songs were created by children at St Joseph’s and Tyndale Christian schools in Murray Bridge, along with Mannum Community College.
Earlier in the year, children at the schools were joined by members of the Deadly Nannas Ngarrindjeri singing group, Stamp Music and representatives of Moorundi Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service, plus ac.care's Communities for Children Murraylands staff, for the project.
Stamp Music’s Pete and Kerrie led the children through songwriting brainstorming sessions and coached the children to write rhyming lines, creating and recording the upbeat tunes together.
The Deadly Nannas worked with the children to provide Ngarrindjeri translations to share for some of the songs and Ngarrindjeri man Harley Hall also dropped by the session at Mannum Community College to contribute.
Videos for three of the songs were released for NAIDOC Week via ac.care’s Facebook page and we plan to produce more clips for the remaining tracks over the coming months.
Stories Through Song is a Communities for Children Murraylands initiative facilitated by ac.care in partnership with Moorundi Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service, supported by the Deadly Nannas, featuring schools across the region.
The project aims to build relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students and the broader Aboriginal community, develop respect for Aboriginal culture, create opportunities for young people and share the voices of children.
Communities for Children is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services.