Aqualification and Fitness – Billabong Dreaming (2017-2018)
About the Project
Billabong Dreaming was a child safety aquatic awareness performance to 788 local school students and live-streamed to schools across Queensland. Representatives and special guests from Darumbal, Austswim Qld, Royal Life Saving Qld and Rockhampton Regional Council were also in attendance.
Students were gifted water safety bags containing an activity book that had been designed specifically for and written into the performance. The bag also contained other water safety information flyers and a pencil. A teacher’s toolkit was also developed and made available for schools and parents online.
When and Where
Production of the project commenced on 1st July 2018, the performance was held at the Pilbeam Theatre on the 20th of September 20th 2018.
Facts, Figures and Statistics
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Number of attendees at the performance:
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11 local schools attended in person, with a total audience count of 788.
75 online views of the live-streamed performance were noted at the end of the performance. Due to demand from Central Queensland Schools, the play was left online until 15th of December 2018.
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Number of participants:
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9 performing artists |
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Percentage of survey respondents answering 'good' or 'excellent' to the question:
Overall, how would you rate this activity?
(response options - excellent, good, average, poor, very poor)
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100% (total of 12 respondents) |
RADF Funding
The performance was awarded RADF funding to the value of $8978.52
Outcomes Identified by Grant Recipient/s
- 9 local performing artist gained experience on stage
- Emerging writer/director gained experience producing first play
- For many of the artists it was their first time being paid the award wage
- Actors engaged with the audience
- Actors gained skills working completely masked
- Main Objective: To raise awareness and decrease drowning rates in QLD - Survey results from the children showed that they understood the messages. Teachers also commented the messages were very clear.
Audience Feedback / Artist Comments
“This play is fantastic. So well put together and ticks more than just water safety. Culture as well. Thank you for this opportunity.”
“The water safety messages were strong and clear. The linking in of local indigenous history and dialect was very well done. Audience participation was high and my students really enjoyed the play.”
“Excellent message. Memorable for children.”
“As a parent of a young child, I learnt that there is so much more to water safety that I had realised, a great reminder of our responsibilities as parents.”
“Fantastic, loved the Aboriginal inclusion, and the didgeridoo.”
“It was amazing!”
“This should be made available for every primary school kid!”
“I really liked this. I’m so glad it was offered for us to watch free and live. A really good interactive lesson that I think reached my child’s understanding of water safety. Thank you so much.”