Meeting with students at Boulia State School, 4 October 1999 - notes
Boulia State School goes up to Year 7. The meeting was attended by 16 students, 5 boys and 11 girls. The students spoke about their experiences of school and life in Boulia. They talked about their likes and dislikes and their hopes for the future.
Activities in Boulia
"I really enjoy swimming at the Boulia pool."
"I have my own motor bike. I ride it all the time." [5 year old girl]
The students had just returned to school from two weeks holiday. They spoke about what they did during their holidays.
"I went to the motor bike track every day."
"We went rally driving."
"I played football with my friends."
"I went fishing."
"I went swimming at the local pool."
"I had a really boring holiday."
School curriculum and facilities
"We should have more music classes."
"We have a carpentry room at the school but we hardly ever use it because the teacher is not available very often."
"I wish we could use the home economics and woodwork areas at school more."
"The school has language classes for Years 6 and 7 but only German. The German teacher visits the school once a fortnight."
"PCAP [Priority Country Areas Program] organises programs for us. They get people to come out here for art and dancing and things like that."
Technology
The majority of students knew about the internet. Seven students said that they had a computer at home. A number of students said that they had computer 'pen pals' at other schools.
"Computers are fun. We use them at school. There a quite a few computers in the classrooms."
"Sometimes it is very difficult to get onto the internet."
"PCAP sponsors our school with computers."
Sport
"Sport at school is really good."
"We have pretty good sports equipment at school."
"I love going away for sports."
"Sports carnivals are great."
Camps and school trips
"The school organises trips for us. One year we went to the Gold Coast."
"Mostly older kids go on camps. It would be good if more younger kids could go too."
Fighting and conflict at school
"Sometimes there is fighting and teasing at school. Swearing too."
"Kids tease each other a lot at school."
"There is 'hundreds of teasing' at school." [5 year old boy]
"If you hit someone at school you get into trouble. They give you detention and make you do hard work."
Indigenous issues
"There are not many opportunities to speak Aboriginal languages in Boulia. The local Aboriginal people are nearly all gone from the area now. There are some Aboriginal people here but they are mostly from the Northern Territory."
"My family come from the Torres Strait originally but we live in Boulia now. We speak our own language at home."
"We speak 'lingo' at my house." [Indigenous girl]
"At school we celebrate NAIDOC [National Aboriginal and Islander Day of Commemoration] week."
Isolation
"We don't have many other kids the same age to converse with and play with."
"I really like having contact with other outback schools."
"We like it when people from other places come to visit us."
Climate
"There is a lot of rain in Boulia but also a lot of drought."
Safety and road conditions
Quite a few of the children or members of their family had been involved in road accidents. They attributed this mostly to the poor quality of the roads.
"The roads here are pretty bad."
"There is lots of dust which makes it hard to see sometimes."
"In lots of places there are only single roads, so you have to pull over to the side if a car comes in the other direction. If a road train comes towards you, you have to get out of the way quickly otherwise you could have a bad accident."
"My mum died in a car accident."
Plans for the future
The students were asked what they planned to do after they completed Year 7. Seven or so students said they planned to go away to boarding school. Four students said that they and their families would be moving to another centre so that they could continue their schooling. Several planned to stay with relatives and one with friends. Places they intended moving to included Mt Isa, Gympie, Townsville, Charters Towers.
"I wish we didn't have to leave home go to high school."
"I'm looking forward to graduating."
Last updated 2 December 2001.
