ABC Kids has long been home to a list of Aussie children’s favourites, including Bananas in Pyjamas, Bluey, Thomas the Tank Engine and Play School. And now, joining these names is the brand new educational series Languages of Our Land, an active learning series sharing the Aboriginal language of Yugambeh, located in South East Queensland.
All of the visual elements in Languages of Our Land were created by the very talented Kimberly Engwicht, one of Life Apparel’s collaborating artists. Kim recently revealed her work on the series this week and we just couldn’t wait to hear all about it! We caught up with Kim to find out a little more about the exciting new series and how it all came to be.
Languages of Our Land - Via ABC KidsCould you tell us a little about Languages of our Land?
Languages of Our Land is an active learning interstitial series that shares the Aboriginal language of Yugambeh. Yugambeh is located in the South East of Queensland. It counts from 1 through to 10 and shares the Aboriginal word for each of the shown animals in the series.
How did you come to be a part of this project?
The production company that I worked with is based here in Brisbane and one of the producers saw and loved my art up on the William Jolly Bridge back in May. After getting in touch, we worked on a concept to pitch to ABC. ABC loved it and the rest is history.
What was your favourite aspect of being a part of the series?
I think being a part of a team. Working from home by myself can have its lonely times, but having a team behind and communicating daily was great. I really enjoyed having full creative control and not having to change my style to suit others. I also really loved seeing my illustrations being transformed into animated characters. The animators on this project are amazing!
What type impact do you hope that educational tools like this one will have on its viewers?
I hope that it encourages everyone from the tiny tots to their parents and grandparents to appreciate and acknowledge that there are hundreds of different Aboriginal languages in our own country. I would love to see young ones using these words as a part of their vocabulary, like seriously how cool would that be to learn and know parts of an ancient language...incredible.
Any final thoughts you'd like to leave us with?
I really hope everyone that gets a chance to see it, loves it! Even though it's one minute per episode the amount of time and effort that went into making this series is unbelievable and I really hope it's appreciated and loved all throughout Australia.
If you're feeling inspired to grow you children's (and perhaps your own) vocabulary with words from this local and ancient language, then be sure to go check it out! You can catch Languages of Our Land on for the next eight Fridays at 10am on ABCMe, or you can catch all the episodes on the ABC iview app or website.
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1 comment
Jingeri,
My eight month old daughter, Olivia, absolutely loves Languages of Our Land. She has loved it since she was about a month old. She finds it incredibly soothing. If she is ever distressed this show instantly snaps her back to her normally happy self.
Do you have any intentions of making more in this series? I’m sure it will broaden her cultural perspective.
Eloise Burgess
An appreciative mother.