Gateway Plaza is on Wadawurrung country, we pay our respect to the traditional owners, their elders past & present, and value their care and custodianship of these lands.

The "Drawing Us Together" initiative, celebrating Indigenous culture for five years strong, ignites the flames of storytelling with five incredible First Nations authors from across Australia.

Honouring NAIDOC Week 2024, we've partnered with authors Jayden Boundry, Coral Reeve, Bernadette Hardy, Ellen van Neerven and Alton Walley to craft 'The Community Story 2024', a children's storybook featuring a selection of short stories and poems inspired by this year’s NAIDOC message, Keep The Fire Burning. This powerful theme celebrates the enduring strength of Indigenous cultures, passed down through generations.

The 2024 storybook promises to spark your imagination and connect you to Australia's rich Indigenous cultures through multiple perspectives!

This July School Holidays, the Gateway Plaza community came alive with creativity! We invited you to vote for your favourite student illustrations to be published in the community storybook. Featuring an impressive 1,617 entries from talented local student artists, Thank you to both the student artists and voters for making this a true community project!

WINNING ILLUSTRATIONS
Front Cover Pippa Aston from Leopold Primary School

Page 1 - Benjamin Daniaro from Leopold Primary School

Page 2 - Archie Marriot from Leopold Primary School

Page 3 - Jasmine Slater from Leopold Primary School

Page 4 - Zepplin Harrower from Leopold Primary School

Page 5 - Ruby-Rae from Leopold Primary School

Page 6 - Marcus Gould from Leopold Primary School

Page 7 - Harry Teague from Ocean Grove Primary School

Page 8 - Adele Micallef from Ocean Grove Primary School

Page 9 - Eddie Oats from Ocean Grove Primary School

Page 10 - Everly Trotter from Ocean Grove Primary School

Page 11 - Pepper Arbuthnot from Ocean Grove Primary School

Page 12 - Harry Tizard from Ocean Grove Primary School

Commencing in 2020, The Drawing Us Together project is now in its fifth year. We are honoured to have worked with generations of students and nine incredible authors on this project.

Discover the audio books of previous editions:

2024 Edition – The Community Story 2024

2023 Edition – Gami Winda and Dyindi Dyndi by Bianca Stawiarski

2022 Edition – Being a Big Brother by Alton Walley

2021 Edition – Dancing for Country by Maree Yoelu (McCarthy)

2020 Edition – Pindan Dream Princess by Sylvia Lockyer