Creating the plan

The writing process Having launched the magazine in May 2019, the students needed to jumpstart the creative process and work out how they wanted to contribute to the magazine. On a bright, windy day in August the 20 students attended an incursion at school with Torres Strait Islander ABC radio journalist Rhianna Patrick. Rhianna first shared videos in M’s cafe from the ABC series Heywire – a collection of stories from young people living in rural and regional parts Australia – before asking each student how they wanted to contribute to Gidhal. As we moved onto the lawn outside the old chapel, each student was given paper, pens, markers and art supplies and found a spot in the sun to begin the writing process. For the next hour, they wrote, reflected, shared language, stories and sweet plums – a delicacy from the Torres Strait – and almost all of them came away from the morning with a plan.