Indigenous Storytelling: Cultural Education Programs

Moranbah Early Learning acknowledges the Barada Barna People and the Widi People as the Traditional Owners of the lands and waters on which our centre stands. We pay our deepest respect to Elders past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge their continuing connection to Country, culture, and community. We also acknowledge the Koinjmal, Birriah, Barada Kabalbara Yetimarala, Jangga, Wangan, and Jagalingou peoples, recognised by the Isaac Regional Council as Traditional Owners of lands and waters throughout the Isaac Region.

The land beneath our feet in Moranbah has a story that stretches back thousands of generations. Long before the miners arrived, long before the first homes were built on the red Central Queensland earth, the Barada Barna People were here — living on, caring for, and intimately knowing this Country. Their stories, knowledge, and culture are woven into the landscape of the Isaac Region as deeply as the ancient cave paintings that Traditional Owner the late Uncle Frank Budby dedicated his life to protecting.

On 29 June 2016, in a ceremony held right here in Moranbah, Justice Dowsett of the Federal Court granted the Barada Barna People their Consent Determination — the formal, legal recognition of what the Barada Barna People had always known: that this is their Country, and it always was.

At Moranbah Early Learning, we believe that the youngest members of our community deserve to grow up knowing this history — and that Indigenous storytelling is one of the most powerful, beautiful, and meaningful ways to begin that journey.

What Is Indigenous Storytelling?

To understand Indigenous storytelling, we must first understand that it is far more than entertainment. It is education, law, science, history, and spiritual practice — all woven together into a living tradition passed from generation to generation, Elder to child, for tens of thousands of years.

The Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) describes the oral traditions of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the primary form of transmitting concepts, beliefs, and knowledge across history. These oral traditions include storytelling, song, dance, and art- and craft-making. Historically, important communications and histories have been carried through mediums such as message sticks, rock and sand art, body painting, song, dance, and carvings.

Stories fall into four broad categories, as identified by the QCAA:

• Collective histories — shared accounts of a people’s origins, migrations, and significant events
• Spiritual narratives — stories that explain the relationship between people, Country, and the spiritual world
• Cultural practices — stories that teach customs, laws, protocols, and ways of living on Country
• Life histories — personal and family stories that connect individuals to their community and heritage

Each of these story types has its own protocols, its own proper keepers, and its own appropriate contexts for sharing. This is a critical point that shapes how we approach cultural education at Moranbah Early Learning: not all stories belong to everyone, and not all knowledge is ours to share. Authentic cultural education means honouring these protocols, not bypassing them.

Why Cultural Education Matters for All Children

Cultural education programs in early childhood are not just for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children — they are for every child in our care. In a community like Moranbah, where families come from across Queensland and Australia to work in the mines, many children may have had little exposure to the deep history of the land they now call home.

The Queensland Department of Education is clear on this point: sustained, respectful, and inclusive engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, organisations, and communities is integral to improving education outcomes and building the kind of understanding that creates a healthier, more equitable Australia.

When all children learn about First Nations cultures, histories, and storytelling traditions from an early age, they develop:

• Cultural awareness and respect — an understanding that Australia’s history is ancient, rich, and ongoing
• Empathy and inclusion — the social and emotional foundations for respectful relationships across cultures
• Identity and belonging — for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, seeing their culture reflected in their learning environment affirms who they are and strengthens their connection to Country
• Critical thinking — exposure to diverse ways of knowing challenges children to think broadly, question assumptions, and understand that there are many ways of understanding the world
• A love of story — oral storytelling traditions awaken children’s imagination, language skills, and deep listening in ways that no screen or worksheet can replicate

As the Queensland Government’s early childhood team notes through the Ngana Waguna Woori Mumba resource — an artwork created by community members and artists throughout Queensland to represent the early learning journey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children — culture and early learning are not separate things. They belong together.

The Queensland Government’s Elders as Storytellers Initiative

Queensland has long recognised the power of Elders as storytellers in early childhood education. The Queensland Government’s Elders as Storytellers campaign — developed in partnership with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Australian South Sea Islander communities — brought respected Elders together to share the importance of early learning and cultural connection through the stories of their own lives and communities.

Launched with Elder voices from across the state and promoted by the Queensland Department of Education, this campaign reinforced a message that First Nations communities have always known: the early years are when the most important learning happens, and culture must be part of that learning from the very beginning.

Elders and community members throughout Queensland have shared their stories through this campaign about connecting culture, Country, knowledge, and early learning — demonstrating that the pathway to a strong cultural identity begins long before a child starts school.

At Moranbah Early Learning, we are inspired by this initiative and committed to creating our own community-based approach to Elders as storytellers in the Isaac Region.

How We Approach Cultural Education at Moranbah Early Learning

We want to be honest and transparent about what culturally respectful practice looks like — and what it does not look like. Embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives into our program is not a “theme week” activity. It is not a dot painting craft in NAIDOC Week followed by business as usual for the other fifty-one weeks of the year. It is an ongoing, everyday commitment that requires humility, genuine partnership, and a willingness to keep learning.

Here is how we approach this work:

🤝 Community Partnership First

No cultural education program at Moranbah Early Learning is developed or delivered without the genuine involvement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members. We are committed to working alongside local Elders, the Barada Barna community, and other First Nations families in our service to ensure that any cultural content shared with our children is appropriate, accurate, and offered with proper permission and protocol.

The Queensland Department of Education’s Cultural Capability Framework is clear that sensitivity and respect for the protocols and dynamics of engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, staff, families, and Elders is essential — and that engagement must be flexible, willing to adapt, and genuinely community-led.

📖 Everyday Embedding, Not Tokenism

Rather than concentrating Indigenous perspectives into specific calendar events, we aim to embed cultural awareness throughout our everyday program. This looks like:

• Acknowledgement of Country as a genuine, meaningful part of our daily routine — spoken with care and understanding, not recited by rote
• First Nations picture books and stories available in our reading areas year-round, featuring characters, languages, and landscapes that reflect the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures across Australia
• Natural materials and open-ended play inspired by the ways Indigenous children have always learned — through Country, story, and connection to the living world
• Language inclusion — introducing children to words from local Aboriginal languages as part of our everyday vocabulary, always with guidance from community
• Artwork and visual culture displayed respectfully throughout our learning spaces, featuring works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists

🌿 Connecting to Barada Barna Country

The Barada Barna People describe themselves as “custodians of a rich and ancient culture, deeply connected to our land, waters, and stories.” Their Country spans the heart of the Bowen Basin — the same landscape our children play in, breathe in, and grow up in every day.

When we take children outside to observe the red Central Queensland earth, the dry season sky, the seed pods falling from the gum trees, and the birds moving across the horizon — we are on Barada Barna Country. Teaching children to notice, name, and care for this landscape is, at its heart, a way of honouring the knowledge and custodianship of the Barada Barna People.

Storytelling Activities That Honour Culture

There are many ways early childhood educators can bring the spirit of Indigenous storytelling into the learning environment in ways that are respectful, engaging, and developmentally rich for young children. The key is to do so in partnership with community, and with genuine cultural guidance:

Yarning Circles A yarning circle is a traditional form of Aboriginal communication — a safe, inclusive space where everyone is heard and respected. Adapting the yarning circle for early childhood creates a space where children share stories, listen deeply, and learn that every voice has value. It is a powerful way to build the listening and communication skills that underpin both learning and respectful relationships.

Listening to Country Taking children outdoors and asking them to sit quietly — really quietly — and listen to the sounds of the natural world is a practice that reflects the deep listening tradition central to many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. What can they hear? What does the wind say? What are the birds telling us? This practice builds mindfulness, sensory awareness, and a respectful relationship with the natural environment.

Oral Storytelling and Retelling Sharing age-appropriate stories by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander authors and illustrators — then inviting children to retell them in their own words, with their own art, or through dramatic play — honours the oral tradition of storytelling while building language, creativity, and comprehension.

Art as Story In Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, art and story are inseparable. The QCAA notes that visual arts, song, dance, and craft-making are all forms of oral tradition — all ways of passing knowledge from one generation to the next. Allowing children to create art in response to stories, using natural materials such as ochre-coloured earth pigments, charcoal, and plant materials, connects the creative process to the land and to culture in a genuinely meaningful way.

A Note on Doing This Well

Cultural education done well is transformative. Done poorly — or done for appearance rather than genuine respect — it can cause real harm. We want to be honest about the responsibilities that come with this work.

The Queensland Department of Education’s Cultural Capability Framework outlines a clear set of expectations for early childhood services: that we develop genuine relationships with and connections to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, communities, Elders, and other stakeholders. That we foster local decision-making and co-design. That we approach this work with humility, flexibility, and a genuine commitment to learning.

At Moranbah Early Learning, we are on a journey. We do not claim to have all the answers. What we do commit to is approaching every step of this journey with respect, honesty, and a genuine desire to do right by the Barada Barna People, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families in our community, and every child in our care.

If you are an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander family, Elder, or community member who would like to be part of shaping how we bring cultural education into our program, we genuinely welcome your voice and your guidance. Please reach out.

Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children at Moranbah Early Learning

The Queensland Government’s early childhood programs include specific supports for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families, including the Deadly Kindies program, Early Years Places, and rural and remote programs designed to ensure that children in communities like Moranbah have access to high-quality early childhood education.

We are committed to ensuring that every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child in our care experiences an early learning environment where their culture is visible, celebrated, and genuinely honoured — not as a decoration on the wall, but as a living, breathing part of how we learn and play together every day.

Because when a child’s culture is reflected in their learning environment, they know that they belong. And belonging — as the Early Years Learning Framework tells us — is where all learning begins.

Get in Touch

We welcome conversations with families, community members, and Elders about our cultural education programs. We are always listening, always learning, and always grateful for the guidance of this community.

📍 221–227 Mills Avenue, Moranbah QLD 4744 📞 Enrolments: 07 4855 3130 📞 Enrolled Families: 4941 6600 ✉️ enquiries@moranbahelc.com.au 🌐 moranbahearlylearning.com.au

Sources

The following Queensland-based sources were used in the research and writing of this blog post. No other early childhood or childcare services have been cited as sources.

1. Queensland Curriculum and Assessment Authority (QCAA) – Storytelling in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures qcaa.qld.edu.au – Storytelling in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultures — A Queensland Government education authority resource explaining the oral traditions, story types, and cultural practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, including storytelling, song, dance, and art-making.
2. Queensland Department of Education – Early Childhood Resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities earlychildhood.qld.gov.au – Resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities — Queensland Government early childhood resources including the Ngana Waguna Woori Mumba artwork, Elders as Storytellers videos, and community-led resources connecting culture, Country, and early learning.
3. Queensland Government – Elders as Storytellers Campaign (Ministerial Statement) statements.qld.gov.au – New Chapter for Elders as Storytellers — Queensland Government ministerial statement announcing the second phase of the Elders as Storytellers campaign, developed in partnership with Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and Australian South Sea Islander communities to promote cultural connection and early childhood education.
4. Queensland Department of Education – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Capability Framework education.qld.gov.au – Cultural Capability Framework — The Queensland Department of Education’s framework outlining the responsibilities of early childhood services, educators, and schools in developing respectful, genuine relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, Elders, and families.
5. Queensland Department of Education – Rural, Remote and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Programs earlychildhood.qld.gov.au – Rural, Remote and ATSI Programs — Queensland Government information on programs including Deadly Kindies and Early Years Places supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families in rural and remote Queensland communities.
6. Isaac Regional Council – Acknowledgement of Traditional Owners isaac.qld.gov.au — The Isaac Regional Council’s official acknowledgement of the Koinjmal, Widi, Birriah, Barada Kabalbara Yetimarala, Jangga, Barada Barna, Wangan, and Jagalingou peoples as the Traditional Owners of lands and waters throughout the Isaac region.
7. Barada Barna Aboriginal Corporation – Our Claim baradabarna.com.au – Our Claim — The Barada Barna Aboriginal Corporation’s account of their Native Title journey, culminating in the Consent Determination granted on 29 June 2016 in Moranbah, recognising the Barada Barna People as the Traditional Owners of Country in the Isaac Region.
8. Early Childhood Australia – Queensland Committee earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au – Queensland Branch — Queensland’s peak advocacy body for early childhood education and care, providing resources, research, and guidance on embedding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in early childhood programs.

Moranbah Early Learning provides high-quality early childhood education and care to the children and families of the Moranbah community. We are proud to serve one of Queensland’s most vibrant and unique communities, and we are committed to delivering inclusive, culturally respectful, and developmentally rich experiences for every child in our care. To enquire about enrolment or to share your story with our team, please contact us today.