Some of Ardeer’s youngest residents are connecting with some of its oldest, to help retell the old stories of the suburb.
Ardeer Primary School and Mother of God Primary School are on the lookout for short stories from people who lived and worked in Ardeer in the early days of the suburb.
The short snippets of history will be passed over to the primary school students to create short-stop animations that will go alongside the stories.
Mother of God Primary School art teacher, Debbe Qadri, is co-leading the project with Ardeer Primary’s art teacher, Rhiannon Thomas.
Ms Qadri said every story is valuable and helps to share the special charm of Ardeer.
“We are looking for little stories which are still alive and out there in the community,” she said.
“The first story we received was from a lady who came to our school as a young woman for a teaching placement. She said she had to walk across paddocks to get to the school and on the way she got lost. By the time she got to the school she was completely wet except for her hair because she had a pink umbrella with her.
“Sharing stories like these gives local children an idea of what Ardeer was like in the past, and it gets them to reimagine it and understand how life has changed, and just how much the suburb had changed over time.”
Ms Qadri said the schools have come together to create a joint project for the Ardeer community.
“The suburb has changed so much over the years and we really want to capture some of those stories that are still around,” she said.
Older residents are encouraged to make a voice recording or email in their story to either school by October 1.
Ardeer Primary School: ardeer.ps@education.vic.gov.au or, Mother of God School: dqadri@mogardeer.catholic.edu.au
Hannah Hammoud
