Make & design on Palm Island

The Applied Creativity team at State Library develops innovative and digitally focused engagement programs and manages the creative resources at The Edge, located on the banks of the Maiwar river. 

Over the last 15 years The Edge has been operating as a digital and maker hub, the workshops and programs delivered have been documented and access provided online through the State Library’s Wiki. Documenting and archiving these invaluable resources has been a way that not only Queenslanders can gain skill building through hands-on learning, but anyone from around the globe, and often feedback is received from those who’ve stumbled across one of the past online creative workshops and had a go at following along with the detailed instructions. 

State Library’s commitment to digital inclusion has only grown over the years, with new innovative programs and pathways being delivered all the time. Digital inclusion ensures that every Queenslander has opportunities to benefit from the digital economy through access to learning, entertainment, business, employment, and vital services. 

Several of the library’s most recent initiatives include the Digital and You program, providing access for wherever you are in Queensland to unlock the world of digital, along with the Growing Indigenous Knowledge Centres (IKCs) project. Supporting the establishment of 3 new digital IKCs in Doomadgee, Kowanyama, and Mornington, and the delivery of digital programs in existing IKCs in 12 Indigenous Councils across Queensland, including Palm Island.  

The Applied Creativity team have joined forces with State Library’s Digital Inclusion team to help deliver training and support in the creative areas of digital engagement, utilising many of the workshop programs that run at The Edge, with the Digital Inclusion team developing these specifically for communities to build their digital skills and deliver these themselves once confident with the equipment and resources. 

The workshops are funded through the Growing IKCs project, supported by the Department of Customer Services, Open Data and Small and Family Business through the Digital Inclusion program, in partnership with the State Library of Queensland. 

Last month Michelle, Coordinator of the Applied Creativity team, headed up to Palm Island to spend some time with Regina, the Palm Island IKC coordinator, to set up equipment and deliver workshops in Live Streaming, Digital Art and Who’s Your Mob family history. 

To get to Palm Island there is only light plane and ferry access from Townsville, so after a quick trip on a small plane across the beautiful blue Coral Sea, Michelle was welcomed by Regina and shown around the IKC library and local community.  

Palm Island has had a difficult and complex history, particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, many of whom were taken from around Queensland and placed on the island. The island is also known by the name Bwgcolman (pronounced "Bwookamun"), meaning "one people from many groups", derived from an Aboriginal language of one of the earliest groups of Aboriginal people removed from the mainland. 

The Palm Island Group is home to the traditional owners, the Manbarra people (Mun-burra) and the Bwgcolman people and their descendants. More than forty different language groups were displaced and sent to Palm for a variety of reasons, including exile and punishment for disobeying strict laws governing where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people could live. 

Palm Island IKC is a wonderful hub located very close to the beach and fantastic island sunsets. The IKC has been building their library of digital equipment for locals to engage with, from an interactive training screen to a suite of laptops and iPads. Regina has been instrumental in working with State Library’s Digital Inclusion team to champion providing this gear for the IKC, so that the community could advance their skills in content making and entrepreneurial avenues.  

One of the reasons that they chose Live Streaming training was that Nina, one of the library staff, regularly streams funerals that take place on the island to the prisons, giving those incarcerated the chance to grieve with family via an online service. Nina currently uses her own phone, so during the workshops we set her up with the new Canon DSLRs and tripods the IKC now has, so she could feel confident to use professional equipment. 

Another one of the workshops held was focused on creating and using digital art for print making with sublimation printing and heat press. Very popular with the workshop attendees, everyone was super creative, either using digital drawings created on an iPad with Procreate app, or personal photographs taken of Palm Island’s fabulous sunsets. 

A Who’s Your Mob family history session was also run with the community, covering many of the avenues that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can use historical records to help find any ancestors and connected family members. It can be daunting to know where to start when researching records, especially when researching First Nations ancestry, but armed with some names and dates, during the session we were able to find several connections which created new pathways for families to look further for information. 

If you would like to update your creative digital skills, take a look at some of the initiatives State Library has on offer, from LinkedIn Learning to the State Library Wiki workshops and explorations. Subscribe to our newsletters and follow us on socials!  

The Edge is State Library’s home for creativity, ideas and experimentation. Visit our digital make and design hub to access cutting-edge facilities, workshops, meetups, and exhibitions. 

The Growing IKCs project is funded by Department of Customer Services, Open Data and Small and Family Business through Our Thriving Digital Future: Queensland’s Digital Economy Strategy 2023-2026.  

Further reading; 

https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/palm-island-photographs-hamish-cairns 

https://www.slq.qld.gov.au/blog/bwgcolman-indigenous-knowledge-centre