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Safety for Piccaninny - Our Little Ones

Safety for Piccaninny -
Our Little Ones
(PDF / 1.9 MB)

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"Safety for Piccaninny - Our Little Ones", Australia's first Indigenous injury prevention booklet, is an outcome of the Child Injury Prevention Project’s (ChIPP) implementation in the Mount Isa community.

ChIPP is a pilot project sponsored by the Department of Emergency Services (DES) and Queensland Health (QH), which aims to evaluate an intervention that successfully reduces the high rates of injury in children 0-4 years of age in rural and regional areas of Queensland to levels commensurate with urban areas. The project focuses on reducing injury in four key areas - drowning, poisoning, burns/scalds and falls.

Mackay and Mount Isa are the project's pilot sites. A Project Officer has been appointed in each community to lead a local project team in the co-ordination of intervention strategies with all relevant stakeholders.

A significant outcome of the project's implementation in the Mount Isa community has been the development of Australia's first Indigenous injury prevention booklet, "Safety for Piccaninny - Our Little Ones".

Development of the booklet occurred following an initial meeting between the Mount Isa Project Officer and women from the local Aboriginal community to discuss their children's injury rates and opportunities that the ChIPP project could offer to assist the local community to identify initiatives to address this issue.

Focusing on the developmental stages of children, the booklet illustrates ways to prevent common childhood injuries and provides brief safety messages beside each illustration.

Photos of the authors and their children were used as a basis for the illustrations and the authors have enjoyed identifying themselves, and members of their community, in the pages of the booklet.

This, and other aspects of the booklet's development, such as consensus that the text reflect the terms and language spoken in the local community, has led to a high level of local ownership, and a great deal of pride by the local Indigenous community in the booklet.

The booklet has been endorsed by the Kalkadoon Elders, who also acknowledge input from people from other tribes, including the Waanyi and Alywarra peoples.

The process undertaken in the development of this booklet has had wonderful benefits for the Indigenous community of Mt Isa. It has provided an opportunity to focus on the injury rates of their own children, and through a very inclusive process, identified opportunities to address this issue. This has resulted in a great sense of pride in themselves and their community.

The Kalkadoon Elders have given permission for their booklet to be showcased as an example of their community’s response to their own children’s injury rates and as a tool to assist in the development of safer Indigenous communities.

"Safety for Piccaninny - Our Little Ones", Australia's first Indigenous injury prevention booklet, is an outcome of the Child Injury Prevention Project’s (ChIPP) implementation in the Mount Isa community.

ChIPP is a pilot project sponsored by the Department of Emergency Services (DES) and Queensland Health (QH), which aims to evaluate an intervention that successfully reduces the high rates of injury in children 0-4 years of age in rural and regional areas of Queensland to levels commensurate with urban areas. The project focuses on reducing injury in four key areas - drowning, poisoning, burns/scalds and falls.

Mackay and Mount Isa are the project's pilot sites. A Project Officer has been appointed in each community to lead a local project team in the co-ordination of intervention strategies with all relevant stakeholders.

A significant outcome of the project's implementation in the Mount Isa community has been the development of Australia's first Indigenous injury prevention booklet, "Safety for Piccaninny - Our Little Ones".

Development of the booklet occurred following an initial meeting between the Mount Isa Project Officer and women from the local Aboriginal community to discuss their children's injury rates and opportunities that the ChIPP project could offer to assist the local community to identify initiatives to address this issue.

Focusing on the developmental stages of children, the booklet illustrates ways to prevent common childhood injuries and provides brief safety messages beside each illustration.

Photos of the authors and their children were used as a basis for the illustrations and the authors have enjoyed identifying themselves, and members of their community, in the pages of the booklet.

This, and other aspects of the booklet's development, such as consensus that the text reflect the terms and language spoken in the local community, has led to a high level of local ownership, and a great deal of pride by the local Indigenous community in the booklet.

The booklet has been endorsed by the Kalkadoon Elders, who also acknowledge input from people from other tribes, including the Waanyi and Alywarra peoples.

The process undertaken in the development of this booklet has had wonderful benefits for the Indigenous community of Mt Isa. It has provided an opportunity to focus on the injury rates of their own children, and through a very inclusive process, identified opportunities to address this issue. This has resulted in a great sense of pride in themselves and their community.

The Kalkadoon Elders have given permission for their booklet to be showcased as an example of their community’s response to their own children’s injury rates and as a tool to assist in the development of safer Indigenous communities.

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