The children of Cobargo Public School have released two special projects - a book and an album reflecting their experiences and memories of last summer's devastating bushfire season.
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The 14-track album and 40-page book are both titled The Day She Stole The Sun, and the words, illustrations, lyrics and music were all created by the schoolchildren.
They make for an emotional read and listen. For example, a double-page spread in the book is dedicated to Robert and Patrick Salway, the father and son from Wandella who tragically died in the disaster.
Then there are the song lyrics. One, for example, written by a Year 5 pupil goes: I can see a fire/It's just over that hill/But if we stick together/We'll be fine/Pack the car/Call the dogs/Where do we go/What do we do?
The book started as part of Littlescribe's literacy program for schools which encourages children to become authors, with Year 5-6 teacher Campbell Kerr saying it allows kids to tell their own stories.
"I asked the kids what they wanted to do and they said 'we had a pretty rough summer, and that might be a good place to start'," he said.
Mr Kerr said the process began with the schoolchildren drawing what they experienced during the fires - their thoughts, what they saw, heard and smelled.
They created pictures using different mediums, such as one young illustrator who used rocks and dry grass to signify the drought and ear tags to represent the spirits of cattle that had to be killed after the fires.
"I think what is really valuable was they realised through hard work you get great results, by pouring their hearts and souls into their pages," Mr Kerr said.
"What was really beautiful was they were pretty much sitting shoulder to shoulder, supporting each other as they were illustrating."
When the class was asked what the best part of writing the book was, pupil Lincoln Alderman said "probably doing it together".
Mr Kerr said his pupils had taken the books home to show their families and that had provided a chance for a positive expression of emotions, as it gave a medium for the kids to talk about the fires with their families.
"It was a real healing process for them. It was always about them telling their story, but it's gained momentum and rippled out into the community which is great because it's helping them talk about their summer," he said.
The school's music teacher Juanita Low said the album began as part of the school's new singer-songwriter program, ending with 14 tracks written by the pupils that were professionally recorded.
Ms Low said she wanted the pupils to explore their own ideas, so while over half of the songs relate to bushfire other songs do not; the track Cobargo Kids for example is about what children get up to in the town.
"Taking it to the level of a song means they can play it and see other people enjoy it, but also see other people get emotional," she said.
She said some children said they had showed the album to a family member who had cried while listening to it, but the kids had said "it was happy tears, they were happy to cry".
To buy the book online click here and to download the album click here.
Money raised from the book's sale will go into Cobargo School's literacy program and money raised from the album's sale will go into the school's music program.
Albert McKnight
Journalist at Bega District News.
Journalist at Bega District News.
