Mandy Nolan, Mama Mia.com.au.
Mairehau Grace, Kyliric Masella and Tjiirdm McGuire, NITV Promotional Still. Photo supplied by Magpie Pictures/NITV/SBS, Production Stills by Julian Panetta.
When I was 12, a boy called Peter brought a goanna into our English class for his presentation on animals. He’d caught it the day before, and later that night his mum lit a fire and helped him cook it up so he could bring it in to share with the class. It was educational AND delicious. At the time I had no idea how lucky I was to have an experience that many white Australian city kids may never have – a sharing of culture not at some festival or tourism hotspot, but in the mundane and unremarkable setting of a school classroom. Peter got an A and the rest of us got to taste goanna.
These are the kind of experiences that build understanding and connection and tell the bigger story of what country means to our first nation. This is where true reconciliation takes place – just ordinary people doing ordinary things like any other ordinary day. This is where where understanding builds respect.
I was recently at a writers’ festival in the children’s tent listening to a young Indigenous author entertain kids with his stories. The kids were wide-eyed. They were laughing. They were right there. It occurred to me how unusual this was, how most children’s stories tend to focus on dominant culture. White stories. What is it like growing up with most of the books and TV shows that you watch only ever telling stories about white children? How do you feel about yourself and your identity if you never get to see positive, engaging stories about girls or boys just like you reflected back?
I want my white child to hear black stories. I also want to know the Indigenous kids in this country aren’t constantly subjected to books and TV that repeatedly tells the stories of white kids. I believe it’s important for all kids to see themselves right in the middle of the frame of their story.
And that’s exactly what happens with Grace Beside Me, an exciting new 13-episode TV series created by Magpie Pictures and screening this month on NITV and SBS on Demand.
Mairehau Grace and Tjiirdm McGuire, Magpie Pictures/NITV/SBS, NITV Promotion Still. Photo supplied by Magpie Pictures/NITV/SBS,Production Stills by Julian Panetta.
Story is so important in helping shape young minds, in how they understand the world and their place in it. If we are to create a future that promotes true respect, that values Indigenous culture and spirituality, and one that truly walks the walk of reconciliation, then we have to learn to listen. The world's oldest and most experienced storytellers have something to tell us. And boy, do they know how to spin a yarn. Watching Grace Beside Me, I realised this was an opportunity for exactly that. Grab your children, sit together and enjoy.