Indigenous culture and technology combine for educational Zoo AR experience

To mark Indigenous Literacy Week, a number of Western Sydney schools and an innovative Western Sydney Indigenous Tech Start-Up have teamed up with Microsoft and SydneyZoo to create a unique and engaging initiative that combines culture and knowledge with state-of-the-art technology.

Over the past six months, students from 30 Sydney schools had worked together with local tech firm Indigital to create a number of Augmented Reality animals that could be found throughout the Zoo grounds.

These remarkable creations and the work that went into them perfectly demonstrated the way that Indigenous historical and cultural elements can be combined with cutting-edge technology to drive engagement while also developing knowledge and skills.

By scanning a QR code at the relevant exhibit, visitors were presented with information about the animals, narrated by Dharug Elders, as well as the 3D models themselves, which could be placed anywhere in the visitor’s field of vision.

There were a number of speakers and students at the official event, held at the Zoo on Tuesday September 5. Newbridge Heights Deputy Head Monique Brown spoke passionately about the importance of technology in education, with stories of remote and often Indigenous communities around the world able to learn rapidly and improve communication after exposure to technologies they may not have previously experienced, even transcending clear language gaps.

Indigenous Literacy Week is an initiative from the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF), who currently work with over 400 remote Indigenous communities across Australia. They focus on a three-tiered approach to Indigenous Literacy, ensuring an adequate supply of books to regional communities, encouraging familiarity and engagement with books in children under five, and - vitally - helping Indigenous communities to write, illustrate and share their own stories in languages of their choice.

Indigital is an Indigenous owned profit-for-purpose company creating a culturally diverse and inclusive digital future for all by building cultural connection and digital capability in critical technologies.​ They use digital technologies – like AI, augmented or mixed realities – as a pathway to learning Indigenous heritage, and we use First Nations' culture to teach digital skills as a pathway to the future of work.

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