Longstanding collaboration and community connection
2024 marks the ninth consecutive year of g-oz programming in Lockhart River since our official Community Program launched in 2016.
Girls from Oz visits Lockhart State School four times a year, once per school term. As of 2024 34 g-oz Community Programs have been successfully delivered at Lockhart State School in collaboration with the Puuya Foundation.
Our Patron, the Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO, is also the Patron of the Puuya Foundation; an Indigenous-led organisation which works to support and uplift the Lockhart River community. In 2014, Dame Quentin introduced g-oz to Denise Hagan, the CEO of the Puuya Foundation, and a relationship between us was formed. With the Puuya Foundation’s support we ran a successful pilot program at Lockhart State School in July 2015.
Girls from Oz endeavours to amplify the pre-existing work of the Puuya Foundation; celebrate and uplift Lockhart River’s cultural identity; and most importantly, contribute to the engagement of First Nations girls and young women in their schooling and in their community, while also providing them with the life skills needed to confidently shape their futures and chase their dreams.
Thanks to the ongoing support of our Patron; the Puuya Foundation; Lockhart River State School; and our generous corporate, community and individual sponsors, we have been able to deliver consistent, reliable and enduring programs to the Lockhart River community. Our sustained presence in this community has generated trust, respect, and credibility in a town that often experiences intermittent support from initiatives due to lack of funding.
We extend our gratitude to the Traditional Owners and Elders, the Puuya Foundation, Lockhart State School, and the wider Lockhart community for welcoming us back each year.
A typical week-long Community Program in Lockhart River involves:
- 15 performing arts sessions to 90 Lockhart State School students
- 3 x ‘Mums and Bubs’ sessions at Kuunchi Kakana at the Puuya Foundation
- 4 x Youth Group sessions at Community Hall
- 3 x After School Girls Group sessions (open to all girls and women)
- 1 x Community Performance at Community Hall or the Lockhart River Social Club
- 1 x visit to the Puuya Foundation Office
‘g-oz are a wonderful treat for all of our students…the visits are a glimpse into The Arts for our students with song, movement and dance which is a contemporary way for our students to express themselves. Many of our students dance the traditional dances of their clans, but the work they do with g-oz allows them to engage in activities not available to them in our community. In short, they get to do things other kids get to do in regional towns and cities, and love it!…the work of g-oz in our community, in my opinion, is of absolute importance and value. Our students have intrinsic talents and skills and by working with g-oz they get an opportunity to explore them in a different way and be inspired. Who knows? We may have another Jessica Mauboy or Deborah Cheetham in our midst!’ – Jacquie Price (Lockhart State School Deputy Principal, 2021)
A focus on early intervention
Lockhart State School is a Prep to Year 12 school with 121 enrolments as of August 2022.
The school has listed poor school attendance as a significant problem. Student attendance rates drop dramatically as each schooling year passes. As noted in the 2022 Lockhart State School Annual Report, the Year 1 attendance rate was 73%, Year 7 was 45%, Year 10 was 30%, and Year 12 was 18%.
g-oz aims to contribute to the solution of this issue by improving academic motivation and school engagement, using a tried and tested performing arts engagement model as developed by the Australian School of Performing Arts over the past forty years.
By contributing to the improvement of school attendance and involvement we strive to increase the future educational, training, and employment pathways of g-oz participants, leading to greater economic empowerment and independence.
As revealed in a joint study by the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Education and Social Work and the Australia Council for the Arts, students who actively engage in the performing arts benefit from positive academic outcomes, such as higher school motivation and class attendance, higher educational aspirations, as well as overall school enjoyment. Positive personal benefits include heightened self-esteem and confidence, greater life satisfaction, and greater feelings of purpose in life.
‘All skills have shown improvement over the week. It was wonderful seeing students who usually disengage in the classroom actually joining in and having a positive experience at school.’ – Lornie, Lockhart State School Teacher (2024)
Through a balanced and considered program that focuses on early intervention, g-oz aims to provide a welcoming and consistent safe space for girls and young women to practice positive risk taking allowing them to explore themselves and their goals without reservation, shyness or shame; and embark on adulthood with positivity and feelings of confidence.
The northernmost town on the east coast of Australia
Lockhart River is situated on the eastern coast of Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula on KuukuYa’u, Wuthathi, Umpila, Kaanju and Uuthalganu country.
Lockhart River is a strong and resilient community with a rich cultural identity. Art and dance are highly regarded and celebrated. Lockhart River dancers perform regularly at festivals, including the Laura Quinkan Indigenous Dance Festival, and the town’s thriving art scene includes the internationally-renowned Lockhart River Art Gang.
Bordering the Kutini-Payamu (Iron Range) National Park, the town is located 800 kilometres north of Cairns and 2,550 kilometres north of Brisbane by road.
One of Australia’s most remote communities, it is accessed by a dirt road and is only accessible by barge or plane during the wet season (December to May).
As of 2021, Lockhart River’s population is 640 with 502 of those residents identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander (ABS Census Data, 2021).