In 1998 VUT, with assistance from DETYA, Alice Springs, and IBM Australia, undertook a workskills and literacy enhancement project with the remote Aboriginal community of Atitjere in the Northern Territory of Australia. The Project, Story Writing in Remote Locations (SWIRL) endeavoured to document the traditional and contemporary stories of the children and community members, and to publish those stories locally for inclusion in the local school’s literacy program and as home reading materials.

Learning in the NT

Story Writing In Remote Locations (SWIRL) a Victoria University literacy enhancement project in remote Northern Territory Aboriginal communities, has been completed for the year 2000, in two remote communities.
Very few Aboriginal children from remote communities have the chance to complete their secondary schooling, due to remoteness, lack of teachers and schools, as well as other factors. SWIRL aims to give those isolated children an opportunity to have a positive experience of education outside their normal schooling, and also to share their life experiences with visitors to their communities, and to relieve some of the boredom experienced when school is not in. 

Student teachers and staff from Victoria University, as well as teachers and other professionals, joined also by University students from the United States- one from the University of Oregon, and the other from Boston University, worked with isolated Aboriginal children producing culturally appropriate books with children’s contemporary and traditional stories of the region. The books are included in the school's library as a further reading resource and teaching aid.
IBM Australia has donated all the necessary equipment to complete the project, including computers, printers and cameras, and this year has supplied a new piece of equipment, called "Young Explorer",  which allows very young children the opportunity to use computers.
The Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs in Alice Springs has awarded Victoria University the funding to complete the project. The project instigator, Lawry Mahon, from Victoria University School of Education feels strongly about the value of the project for everyone involved: "Through the SWIRL project the community children make new friends, and have loads of fun learning new things with friendly adults. The student teachers gain great information and energy by visiting remote communities, and see long term purpose in their teaching roles, while the teachers and other professionals who participate gain new insights into their curriculum content regarding Australia’s Indigenous people. And we all feel we are contributing something worthwhile towards reconciliation."
For any further information contact Lawry Mahon on 0419 375 178, or email lawry.mahon@vu.edu.au