Lawry Mahon started the Story Writing In Remote Locations (SWIRL) program close to 20+ years ago. Lawry was a lecturer at Victoria University and noticed the need for pre-service teachers to experience what remote outback communities, peoples and schools were like. The model began with pre-service teachers volunteering for a month in the Northern Territory’s middle school holidays- providing holiday programs for remote outback young people, and through those experiences writing books with students pictures, photographs, faces, words and experiences. Students wrote their own book that they could take home and one they could leave at the school- building both home and school bookshelves with culturally relevant, two way written books.

Highly Commended 2024 Category: RRR Partnerships Award