Commonwealth funding for CD-ROM on Aboriginal/Torres Strait Islander culture

October 18, 1995

Western Australia will receive Federal funding to produce an innovative CD-ROM on contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, Arts Minister Peter Foss and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Kevin Prince announced today.

The Ministers said the Department for the Arts and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs had formed a consortium with the University of Western Australia to produce the CD-ROM under the Federal Government's Creative Nation 'Australia on CD' initiative.

The CD-ROM will be titled Mooditj - a Noongar word meaning excellent.

The Ministers said Mooditj, to be produced at UWA's award-winning multi-media unit -  the Development Unit of Instructional Technology - would be a powerful tool in the reconciliation process between Aboriginal people and other Australians.

It would feature Aboriginal and Torres Strait artists from all over Australia.

"It is appropriate that WA host a national project like this, given the outstanding talent of many of our local artists and indigenous arts organisations," Mr Foss said.

"We are proud to count among our own Sally Morgan, Jack Davis, Jimmy Chi, Josie Ningali Lawford, Richard Walley, Rover Thomas, Ernie Dingo and a host of others including organisations such as Australia's first Aboriginal publishing house - Magabala Books."

Mr Prince said the Mooditj project would have strong Aboriginal ownership and involvement led by artistic director Richard Walley and the project's general manager Lesley Bangama Fogarty.

"Aboriginal and Islander people from all over Australia will contribute to this exciting project which will be highly interactive, featuring prominent Aboriginal actors Ernie Dingo and Justine Saunders," Mr Prince said.

"Copies will be distributed to every school and library across the nation with the double benefit of educating our young and fostering pride in our indigenous heritage and culture."

Mr Prince said the project would explore a diverse range of contemporary Aboriginal and Islander art including visual arts and crafts, dance, drama, music, literature and film.

"It will highlight the complicated relationships between the contemporary art and cultural heritage of Aboriginal and Islander people and make them more accessible to the whole community - benefiting all," he said.

Mr Foss said multi-media was highly suited to the arts, because it provided opportunities for creative people to use state-of-the-art technology for the mutual gain of arts industries and the wider community.

"This project will serve as a dynamic educational device - not just for our young but also for international visitors," he said.

"There is enormous international interest in our indigenous arts and something like a CD-ROM, which is easy to carry, accessible, informative and highly entertaining has the capacity to bring great benefits on the world front."

The Ministers said part of the profits from sales of Mooditj - after its distribution to schools and libraries - would be placed in trust and used for future Aboriginal arts multi-media projects.

They paid tribute to UWA's Development Unit for Instructional Technology which came up with the CD-ROM idea and which would act as the technical producer of the $820,000 project.

Mooditj is expected to be ready for distribution across Australia in early 1997.

Media contact: Peter Harris on 321 2222 or Stacey Molloy on 366 0300