Swifts Creek marked a major community milestone last Friday with the launch of This is Swifts Creek, a picture book written and illustrated by local students in partnership with the Great Alpine Gallery.
The project brought together Swifts Creek P–12 School, Swifts Creek Future (Education and Skills Working Group), Australian Catholic University and Monash University. The book celebrates the stories, landscapes and shared identity of Swifts Creek through the eyes of the town’s year 3/4 students.
Local artist Deborah Mazzallo-Martinez, who collaborated with the students throughout the artistic process, said the project revealed remarkable creativity among the young illustrators.
“Drawing inspiration from our surroundings and their poetic storytelling, students developed their ideas through guided inquiry and reflection, constantly refining their process. This project championed individual perspectives whilst demonstrating the shared sense of place and belonging within our community,” she said.
Project collaborator Ondine Bradbury said the publication process offered a rare opportunity for children to develop both artistic and authorial confidence.
“Every time we returned and talked about the next phases and stages of the project, their eyes lit up or they looked curious or they supported or encouraged one another or they critiqued themselves. They were going through the phases of the author and the artist concurrently,” she said.
Classroom teacher Alannah McCormack said the program strengthened both literacy learning and student confidence.
“The teaching was a set of cohesive lessons that enabled kids to immerse themselves in text but also have the agency to direct their own writing in the way they wanted,” she said.
One of the year 3/4 students from Swifts Creek P–12 said their favourite part was “learning more designs of how to draw and learning more about the community.”
