An 11-year-old First Nations YouTube presenter has used her last episode before a break to highlight an Elder's art exhibition at Wollongong Art Gallery.
Young Wiradjuri and Palawa educator Penelope Towney recently premiered the fifth episode of her YouTube series, Towney Time, focusing on the work of Uncle Kevin Butler, whose artwork Assimilation is being exhibited as part of the gallery’s Greetings from Wollongong series until September.
Penelope, who attends Waniora Public School in Bulli, uses her YouTube channel to share First Nations language, culture and stories. Towney Time is a self-funded series that shows Penelope learning through culture on topics including art, language and astronomy.
In the latest episode, which was supported by a grant from council, Uncle Kevin explains that his artwork is very personal and comes from the heart.
“It’s very emotional – Assimilation is all about the children that were taken away from their families,'' says Uncle Kevin, who was removed from his family in Nambucca Heads as a baby. ''It shows all the bad things that happened to the little girls and boys who were taken away – lost identity, poor health, abuse and unfortunately death. But the good thing about this artwork is that you walk through it and come back home to your people. That was my journey back in 1990.”
Penelope became a Wollongong Rising Star awardee last year at age nine and in 2023 was the youngest finalist for NSW Woman of the Year's One to Watch Award. In 2022, she received the NSW Department of Education’s Nanga Mai Award for outstanding achievement in public speaking, and her accomplishments don’t end there.
“I was five when I appeared in my very first film made by the University of Wollongong to promote Book Week,'' Penelope said. ''My first short film, The Land We’re On, was obtained by SBS in a pretty special way. The director called my mother and said, ‘Everyone in the office is crying, we would love to purchase this film’.”
Friends, family, supporters and students from Waniora Public gathered to celebrate Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day with the Towney Time episode premiere on August 4, when Uncle Richard Campbell told the Dreamtime story of Gang-Man-Gang and led the Gumaraa dance group in a performance. Catering was provided by Nowra-based cafe Blak Cede.
Gamilaroi author, educator and speaker Kylie Captain spoke to Penelope’s classmates at the event, saying: “I want you all to be dreamers. I want you to think: ‘Wow, if Penelope can do that, then so can I.'
“To keep our culture alive, we’ve got to give it away. I really encourage you all to go and teach somebody what you learn today, because Aboriginal people can’t do this work alone. We need everybody to learn, to relearn and to unlearn.”
Penelope says this will be the last episode of Towney Time for a while as she is preparing to start high school next year.
Keep up with Penelope’s work via Instagram and subscribe to her YouTube channel. See the Greetings from Wollongong exhibition at Wollongong Art Gallery before August 31.
