Kondinin story books

Kondinin Community is a small town located 3 hours east of Perth in the Wheatbelt region of Western Australia. Kondinin has a proud history, extending back into time before farming began over a century ago. The community has a strong Aboriginal population including significant Elders with extensive family spread all over WA.

The school has a mix of students from different backgrounds: farming families, town families, recent migrant families from Bangladesh, South Africa and the Philippines. More than half of the students are Aboriginal.

Kondinin Primary School aims to embrace the diversity within the school and it’s community to empower and develop all students. The Aboriginal English Story book Project has been an important step in terms of engaging with the parents and community to ultimately better cater for the academic needs of students.

This project could not have been possible without the support of Glenys Collard, a local grandmother with extensive experience within the education system, expertise in Aboriginal English and connections to local families.

We would also like to acknowledge artist Eric Humphries for his work with the students and John Budiselik who worked on the con-current Standard Australian English project for the same shared experience. This dual project has really helped students, staff and community members develop their understanding of the underlying differences between Aboriginal English and Standard Australia English.