Doomadgee girls tell the nation

Two girls from Doomadgee State School have won an Australia-wide competition to create a young person's address to the nation.

Shania and Summer, both 13, made an inspiring plea for equality to win the One Voice: Kids Address the Nation competition, run by GenerationOne.

Their message focused on raising awareness about the challenges their community is facing, while asking others what they would do.

"We want to help our community by helping to close the gap in education," the girls said in their video presentation.

"Eight students from Doomadgee have finished year 12 in the last 10 years.

"We want people to know we are here, to put Doomadgee on the map."

The girls' entry has attracted attention — and support — from across Australia.

The internet-based competition was run in the wake of last October's inspiring address to the nation by Madeleine Madden, the 13-year-old granddaughter of Aboriginal activist Charlie Perkins, who urged Australians to help create job opportunities and a better future for Indigenous people.

Madeleine was the first non-political person to deliver an address to the nation on every free-to-air television network, reaching an estimated six million Australians.

The Kids Address the Nation competition gave other children a chance to show what they would tell the nation if they had been in Madeleine's shoes.

Competition judges Tania Major, Young Australian of the Year 2007, and GenerationOne spokesperson Rachel Perkins both praised Shania and Summer's video.

"I think these two young ladies have done a really great job," Tania said.

"Their message is clear and inspiring and their use of the statistics is sophisticated. They have my vote!"

Rachel Perkins agreed. "The great thing about Shania and Summer's address is that it is talking directly to kids about how they are going to make a change in their own futures — it's very personal and therefore compelling and the stats of graduates in Doomadgee bring home the message how big the gap really is," she said.

A video clip of the girls' winning entry can be accessed through the GenerationOne website — GenerationOne is a movement to bring all Australians together to end the disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in a single generation.

The winning entry

Here's what Shania and Summer said:

"You don’t know us. There's a good chance you’ve never even heard of the place we are from.
So let me tell you.

"I'm Shania. I’m Summer and we are 13 years old. We are Aboriginal Australian students living in Doomadgee. Doomadgee is a very remote community. We want to help our community by helping to close the gap in education.

"Only eight students from Doomadgee have finished year 12 in the last ten years, so we need everyone to work hard to get better attendance at school and for more students to finish year 12 so that they can bring their skills back to the community.

"We need to come to school every day. We need to be prepared and confident to learn, to have higher self-confidence, and to set our goals for the future.

"What do we want to achieve? Where do we want to go in life? How are we going to make sure we succeed and how is it going to help our community?

"We need to help ourselves. We can do that by learning about our culture and also getting the skills and knowledge we will need to live and work anywhere in Australia or in the world.

"We will ask the teachers to teach us how to use video cameras and video editing programs. Even if this is after school or on weekends. We want our people to have the ability to create media so that we can let Australia and the world know about us.

"Not just our names. We'd like people to know we're here, to put Doomadgee on the map.

"Closing the gap is not an abstract concept to us. It affects our futures.

"We're making the effort. Are you?"

Here are a few thoughts from other Indigenous youngsters.

Pictured: Robert Hill (age 12) "Aboriginal kids need more help at school"

Pictured: Kerry Ann Hill (age 11) "Have more money for sport, because kids can't always afford to play"

Pictured: Traeden Sialeipata (age 9) "To make all schools a friendly and safe place for all kids so they can finish school"