SCHOOL ADDS NYAMAL LANGUAGE TO VIRTUAL WORLD

Marble Bar school’s virtual reality program has been named a finalist in this year's Western Australian 31st Incite Awards for innovative projects focussing on principles of this year’s NAIDOC Week’s theme of “Heal Country”.

Wardman and Yanyuwa singer-songwriter Shellie Morris has been at the school helping elders and students to write Nyamal songs to be incorporated into the school’s virtual worlds.

“They’re doing this incredible, virtual reality. It’s insane, she said. “It’s off the charts its so amazing. It’s a virtual world that you walk into. And one of the community members said we should have some music in the Nyamal language. 

Ms Morris travels the nation working with tribes to create a unique song using languages that are thriving and languages that are sleeping. In Marble Bar, Ms Morris says she starts with a blank piece of paper.

“I normally start with the animals, with the little ones we did the animals of the area. And you know those little short little songs with lots of actions. So they’ve already built a language centre in the virtual world, it’s incredible.”

And so you walk out into this room and you walk into the rocks of Marble Bar. And this is why the community members are the key, to unlocking this door but it’s the relationship that we need to be building up.”

Wangka Maya Aboriginal Centre is a partner and the new songs will be added to the Marble Bar Virtual World language centre. 

Shellie Morris is working on a children’s album and is committed to releasing more singles in the future.

“We’re making a full language choir in Borroloola because our language is becoming extinct there and we found that singing really works.”

Marble Bar School Principal, Shane Wilson said that the staff and students are becoming proficient at using Virtual Reality.

“ To the point that we now have two virtual worlds. We’ve got an art gallery and a virtual teacher development centre that is the place that we go to to see the students’ work and also to enable our teachers to connect and talk about culturally responsive STEM using Virtual Reality.”

Nyamal singer-songwriter Shellie Morris has been at the school helping elders and students to write Nyamal songs to be incorporated into the school’s virtual worlds.

The Virtual Worlds will be open to the public at a special NAIDOC event this week.