Yarrabah leads way with first Growing IKCs digital workshops
By Melissa Reynolds | 21 February 2025
State Library’s James Collins leads the Who’s Your Mob? digital workshop at Yarrabah IKC.
State Library’s inimitable Digital and You emojis were on prominent display along the road into Yarrabah this week, as the community’s Indigenous Knowledge Centre (IKC) prepared to deliver its first digital workshop under the Growing IKCs project.
Not even an unexpected cut to the IKC power supply could stop the momentum, with a back-up generator saving the day for community members enrolled in the Digital Storytelling workshop on Tuesday.
The Growing IKC project is an important step towards increasing digital inclusion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Queensland by providing access to IT equipment and place-based digital skills programs through community IKCs.
Yarrabah is the first of the 15 First Nations councils participating in the project to begin delivering the digital workshops. Michelle Carter, State Library Director, Digital Inclusion was in Yarrabah to celebrate the occasion.
"We're truly excited about seeing these Growing IKC digital workshops under way," Michelle said.
"There’s a real buzz in community around them, and I think people enjoyed the opportunity to use some of the new technology available at Yarrabah IKC under the project funding, including laptops, tablets and 75” interactive screens.
"This initiative is a significant step towards bridging the digital divide and ensuring that First Nations communities in Queensland are not left behind.”
Each participating council will deliver co-designed digital workshops based on the needs of their individual communities.
Yarrabah IKC’s digital workshops on the community’s electronic road sign.
This week, 3 digital workshops – Digital Storytelling, Who’s Your Mob? and Pocket Cinema – were delivered by Daniel Guest of the State Library Digital Inclusion team, with the support of Growing IKC Project Lead James Collins.
Attending the workshops were Yarrabah IKC Coordinator Dulcie Keyes, Yarrabah IKC Assistant Ilma Cedric, and Morgan Walden, IKC Coordinator for the new digital IKC due to open in Doomadgee this year. Their participation is part of the project's digital skills capability program, which aims to support IKC staff to become digital mentors and empower them to deliver digital programs in their communities in the future.
'Thank you so much for providing this awesome training; I was so inspired and can’t wait to actually run our first session teaching others how to do short films this was so fun,' Dulcie said.
Morgan said: 'Coming down and learning all this and getting all the training is really great to take back to teach the community and I reckon it will make a really great impact.'
The next digital IKC workshops will be delivered in March in Cherbourg, Woorabinda, and in Kubin (Moa) and Hammond Island (Kirriri) in the Torres Strait Islands. Topics include podcasting – sharing oral history; digital art; pocket cinema; and digital fashion.
Get more information about the Growing IKCs project.
For upcoming digital workshop information contact:
The Growing IKC Project is supported through the Queensland Government’s Our Thriving Digital Future: Queensland’s Digital Economy Strategy 2023-2026.
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