The storybook Where’s Our Water? was written for primary school students in the Lower Hunter region to teach them about the value of water as a precious resource and that it is everyone’s responsibility to care for it to ensure we have enough now and into the future.
The book stems from a research about sustainability involving the University of Newcastle, Newcastle High School and the Awabakal and Worimi communities.
The project website emphasises that it began as an idea seeded within the education team at Hunter Water in collaboration with the University of Newcastle, and the Muloobinbah Local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG) and Professor John Lester as Aboriginal guides who brought it to final fruition.
Dr Kath Grushka, an expert in Arts and Education at the University of Newcastle said that there are multiple ways to explore knowledge about conservation.
“The project foregrounds reconciliation and has initiated a different approach to educating about sustainability,” Dr Grushka said.
10 Aboriginal students from Newcastle High School were involved in writing the story together with Aboriginal educators and artists.
Designed for primary school children, Where’s our water? embeds local language and traditional concepts in a contemporary story of water conservation.
