BUSHkids Annual Report 21 | 22

BUSHkids in Cherbourg BUSHkids partners with cultural leaders in Cherbourg, an Aboriginal town two hours’ drive inland from the Sunshine Coast. Through collaborations with a local Elder and Director of the Early Learning Centre, Aunty Jacqui Tapau, and later with Cherbourg’s Mayor, Aunty Elvie Sandow, BUSHkids has been welcomed into the community to provide support.

The Cherbourg Health Screener Day, called Bari Djum Health Day (Wakka Wakka for Children), was designed to bring stakeholders together to offer targeted supports for children. Objectives for the day included: • offering developmental and health screeners for young children • building connections and trust with families and community of Cherbourg • networking and building working relationships with key stakeholders. BUSHkids provided screeners for 39 children out of the 55 who attend Gundoo ELC, with the remaining children being seen following Bari Djum. Capacity building for the Early Years Educators have also been delivered collaboratively on topics such as: • What are Developmental Milestones? • What is a Speech Pathologist? Components of communication and identifying communication concerns • What is an Occupational Therapist? The importance of fine motor development in children.

BUSHkids established a designated team to attend Gundoo Early Learning Centre (ELC) weekly to provide community capacity building as part of Cherbourg’s vision of having a ‘one-stop-shop’ for children and families in the community. BUSHkids recruited Katina Leedie as an Allied Health Assistant (AHA) as part of this team. Katina is a local Aboriginal woman who came recommended for the position by both Aunty Jacqui and Aunty Elvie, and works with the community to support our Speech Pathologist and Senior Coordinator. Together, they have connected with families and educators to offer consistent and high-quality services. In this collaborative approach, BUSHkids is now creating a community presence and building trust. The partnership with Gundoo ELC has been really important in creating BUSHkids participated in a community-led Early Years Round Table held in Cherbourg, facilitated by Early Years leaders Aunty Elvie and Aunty Jacqui. One outcome from this was to deliver a Holistic Screener Day for the children of Cherbourg at Gundoo ELC. community awareness and promoting BUSHkids supports to the community.

Cherbourg’s Ration Shed Cherbourg was designated as a ‘Government Settlement’ in 1904. People from numerous tribes and clans were moved here and the government administration controlled almost every aspect of their lives, including what they ate. The government provided weekly rations of items such as tea, sugar, rice, peas, porridge, andmeat, which was handed out at a Ration Shed. Traditional hunting and gathering of food from the land was no longer possible.

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