Young children (0-8yrs) and their families are invited to participate in shaping a positive digital environment through play.
Mura Kosker Sorority and KNTAC Goodstart Early Learning (Ngurupai) have partnered with the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child to break down barriers to digital connection for yumi young children across our remote region.
Children without adequate access to devices and internet are at a disadvantage, especially in education. Through this project, young minds will be safely introduced to diverse digital devices that support knowledge and learning to overcome this digital divide.
Torres Strait Islander Professor Grace Sarra is the co-lead and chief investigator on the project, and she is committed to supporting young children growing up in a rapidly changing digital age.
“Our mission is to create positive digital childhoods for every child in Australia, including Zenadth Kes,” Mrs Sarra said.
“The project was invited to the region, and we would like to co-design a digital device loans and connectivity program that would help parents, carers, families and communities understand and navigate our children’s ever-evolving digital world,”
“We champion children’s digital wellbeing, and make online exploration safe and fun through play,” she added.
Zenadth Kes is amongst Australia’s most digitally excluded regions, made more evident in the recent results of the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (2023) which scored our region’s digital gap at 23.5, while the current national average First Nations digital gap sits at 7.5.
Digital inclusion for First Nations people has been recognised as an outcome and target in the Closing the Gap framework; “By 2026, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have equal levels of digital inclusion.”
However, in 2025, we continue to struggle with connectivity issues. Last week’s edition of the Torres News shared a story about the consecutive days of prolonged and intermittent outages and highlighted the ongoing interrupted and slow services across the outer islands and communities in the Northern Peninsula Area (NPA) experienced just this month.
Mura Kosker Sorority advocates for family safety and wellbeing, and that includes supporting families and communities in establishing and maintaining safe digital spaces.
Child and Families Program Coordinator, Daniel Aitken will ensure parents and families are offered the opportunity to participate in the study, and trial the devices.
“We hope to bring these devices with us when we visit outer island communities and have them readily available at our weekly playgroup sessions at Buai Mudh Neighbourhood Centre here on Waiben,” Mr Aitken said.
“Parents should understand and encourage safe use of the internet and through this program, we hope to share education and resources around cybersecurity, digital literacy and digital competency,”
“A big thanks to the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child for partnering with Mura Kosker Sorority to deliver this program for our region,” Mr Aitken added.
Families in the Kaiwalagal region are invited to join the Mura Moegi Kaziw Sagulau (Playgroup) at Buai Mudh Neighbourhood Centre from 10am – 12pm Wednesday, 16 April to learn more about the Digital Connections Program and meet Professor Grace Sarra and the ARC team. For more information, please contact Daniel Aitken on 0477 979 771 or email Daniel.Aitken@murakosker.org.au
