Donors back Dreaming Inside book of prison poetry
Dr Aunty Barbara Nicholson's team will return to Junee prison next week but ongoing support is needed to fund the creative writing program
“Ngana Barangarai needs your help.”
Those words were enough to trigger an outpouring of support for Dr Aunty Barbara Nicholson's program.
Less than 24 hours after the 91-year-old Wadi Wadi Elder launched her appeal to fund the next volume of Dreaming Inside, donations topped the $3.5k mark, ensuring the 15th book of poetry by incarcerated Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people will go ahead.
The Dreaming Inside anthologies are a key part of the Ngana Barangarai/Black Wallaby program, which gives a voice to First Nations inmates. For the past 16 years, Aunty Barb and her team of Aboriginal tutors have run creative writing workshops in NSW prisons, such as Junee and Dillwynia. The program makes sure every participant is published in the anthology and receives a copy.
In May, when more than 100 people celebrated the launch of the 14th volume, there was widespread praise for the achievements of Aunty Barb, who is a former president of of Aboriginal Deaths in Custody Watch Committee and 2024's Wollongong citizen of the year. “You provide a culturally safe space and the boys look forward to you coming," said Lesley Marks, who works at Junee jail as an Aboriginal mentor. "You give them a place to start healing.”
Last week, however, the fate of the 15th edition was in doubt.
Aunty Barb launched an urgent appeal for donations, writing: “With the completion of the last round of creative writing workshops at Junee in November this year, the programme will exhaust its meagre funding. Our efforts to secure funding from NSW Corrective Services to fund the production and distribution of Volume 15 of Dreaming Inside have been unsuccessful.
“This is particularly disappointing since, after 15 years in operation, the value of this programme in delivering positive outcomes has been widely acknowledged. For example, the NSW Auditor General recently identified the Dreaming Inside programme as one of only two programmes (out of numerous) to be offered in NSW prisons to have had a profound and meaningful impact on inmate participants.
"We know this also from the many inmate families that contact the programme over the years."
Fundraiser an instant success
Aunty Barb is a longtime board member at the South Coast Writers Centre, which supports and auspices the Ngana Barangarai program. The SCWC team set up a Gofundme page, asking for $3.5k to cover the production and distribution costs of the 15th Dreaming Inside.
Thanks to about 20 donations – ranging from $20 to $300 – this goal was reached in a day. The total hit $5,735 before SCWC set up a new appeal to ensure the sustainability of the program.
"It's fantastic to see the well-deserved public support for Aunty Barbara's work with the Ngana Barangarai project,” said SCWC director Dr Sarah Nicholson.
“While Aunty Barb has asked for a modest amount to cover the production costs of their latest volume, I’d like to encourage people to donate beyond that target so that the project has the confidence to continue to operate on any future projects under her direction.”
Workshops will continue
The Dreaming Inside team are due to visit Junee next week to work on Volume 15.
“The Dreaming Inside program continues to operate at Junee Correctional Centre," a Corrective Services NSW spokeswoman said. "It was one of several established programs continued by CSNSW when management of the centre transitioned from private to public.
“Programs are provided to both offenders in custody and the community based on their risk of reoffending, in accordance with their individual needs.
“Programs are continually assessed to ensure that they address the needs of the current prison population. Decisions regarding future funding have not been made.”
To donate to Ngana Barangarai, visit the Gofundme page.
All the books in the Dreaming Inside series are available to buy online via the South Coast Writers Centre shop.
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Jeremy Lasek
