Ngaiawang Painting Workshop
February 16, 2026
In February 2026, the MLT returned to Berri to run a second Ngaiawang storybook workshop with the River Murray and Mallee Aboriginal Corporation (RMMAC) at the Berri Hotel. It followed on from the first storybook workshop held in November 2025, where MLT provided compiled wordlist of approximately 800 Ngaiawang words to facilitate a children’s storybook workshop.
The focus of this workshop was illustration. Community members picked up some brushes and painted canvases that will be used as the artwork for a Ngaiawang children’s book. All artwork will be scanned and placed into the final book. That means the pictures included in this book are painted by community, for the community.
MLT and RMMAC worked together to host the session. Participants brought their own stories and MLT recommended ideas to paint beautiful pictures on canvas.
RMMAC’s Sheryl Giles and MLT’s Phoebe Leggett
The paintings reflect Ngaiawang Country, animals and tracks that are found along the Murray River. The workshop was hands-on and creative with everyone focused on their paintings, whilst talking with each other about how painting is therapy.
This second workshop builds on the strong momentum from the first session. Together, the stories and paintings will form a children’s book that supports Ngaiawang language learning for the next generation. The book will also be utilised in RMMAC’s Junior Rangers Program to investigate animals and tracks on Country. The MLT is very excited to see the finished product of the children’s book.
Tahlia Johnson
ABC Riverland attended the event and published a story about this workshop that you can read about here. The MLT thanks ABC Riverland for their lovely news article on the importance of community-led language work.
The MLT is very grateful for the financial support of the Yipti Foundation and Indigenous Languages and Arts to fund these types of community workshops.
The workshop is part of MLT’s Pathways project. This project focuses on creating employment opportunities for Aboriginal community members to be involved in Language work. Through these workshops and traineeships, participants can work on their own language, gain practical skills and tailor a project based on their interests. You can read about some of our previous trainees projects here.
If a paid-traineeship is something you’re interested in, contact us to see how you can get involved.
RMMAC’s Jamii-Leah Gray