MARBLE BAR SCHOOL WINS AT VIRTUAL REALITY

Marble Bar school principal Shane Wilson with Nyamal elders Julie and Linda Whalebone, and WA Director General of Education Melesha Sands.

GEOFF VIVIAN

Nyamal Elders and staff from the school in the little outback town of Marble Bar have been invited to represent Australian innovation in Government and public sector work at the Global Asia-Pacific ICT Awards in Pakistan this December.

This comes after the school’s virtual reality program “Virtual Worlds” won the Innovative Governance Inspiration award for the whole of Australia at the iAwards last night and also runner-up for the Merit Award for Innovating Government and Public Sector Solutions.

Principal Shane Wilson said they had already created two virtual worlds that visitors could see at the school.

“If we did not have the permission of the Nyamal elders none of this would have been possible.” he said. “The awards have been dedicated to our Nyamal elders and community leaders because it was our Nyamal people who gave their blessing and their permission for their beautiful language, culture and history to be showcased and preserved in the Marble Bar virtual worlds that are now being seen by audiences around the world.”