August 8, 2022

A Gunnedah Shire Library initiative has received a special acknowledgement at the Local Government Week Awards.

Librarian Christiane Birkett and Gunnedah Shire Mayor Jamie Chaffey accepted the Special Acknowledgement award in Sydney last week for Innovation in Special Events in the RH Dougherty Awards category.

Multicultural March was a month-long event highlighting and celebrating multiculturalism within the Gunnedah Shire through library events. 

Councillor Chaffey congratulated Mrs Birkett and her team at the library for their hard work and ingenuity.

“Our library is a fantastic facility for the whole community and I commend Christiane and her team who put in so much work to provide a wide variety of initiatives and programs for all ages and interests,” Cr Chaffey said.

“I also thank the Multicultural Women’s Association for their invaluable contribution to the Library’s Multicultural March initiative.”

In Multicultural March, the library was transformed into a colourful multicultural space adorned with the flags of various countries and book displays featuring numerous countries and multicultural authors.  Mannequins were also dressed in vibrant clothing of different countries.

Library staff collaborated with the Multicultural Women’s Association (MWA) whose members read children’s stories and shared their culture in their own languages and in English during Book Buddies sessions (storytelling for children 0-4 years).

Over the course of the month, six languages - Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Malay, Maori and Korean – featured in the Book Buddies program, which attracted record numbers, including children from local pre-schools.

“It’s really exciting for our library staff to receive this award and I’d like to thank my team for their creativity, fresh ideas and enthusiasm for our many programs,” Mrs Birkett said.

“I’d also like to thank the Multicultural Women’s Association for their wonderful contributions to our initiative.”

Caption: Gunnedah Shire Mayor Jamie Chaffey and Gunnedah Shire Librarian Christiane Birkett accept the Special Acknowledgement award at the Local Government Awards in Sydney. They are pictured with LGNSW President Cr Darriea Turley AM, and Local Government Minister the Hon Wendy Tuckerman MP. Photo: Local Government NSW

ENDS

For more information, contact Gunnedah Shire Council’s Communications team on (02) 6740 2100.