Words by Tahnie Pearl Togo - Based on an interview with Tahnie for the Neighbourhood Backyard Documentary Tahnie Pearl Togo - Proud First Nations Playworker in Joomunjie Land Neighbourhood Backyard When Tahnie Pearl Togo talks about their Neighbourhood Backyard called ‘Joomunjie Land’, it’s clear she’s not just describing a space for play. She’s describing something far deeper — a place of belonging, healing, security and transformation — built on children, family, culture, a

By Dr Sara Branch, Senior Research Fellow Communities for Children – Logan | Griffith University This conversation is a record of Dr Branch's interview for the Neighbourhood Backyard documentary. Play is often spoken about as something nice for children — a bonus, a break between the “important” parts of life. But decades of research, and now lived community evidence, tell a very different story. Play is not optional. It is foundational. My work as a Senior Research Fellow fo

Eagleby South State School has enjoyed a five-year adventure in offering high quality play.

This quarter, staff at the Pathways to Resilience have been exploring the impact of play friendly communities on children’s well-being. As part of the Logan Communities for Children collective vision for children’s wellbeing, we were invited by Hyahno Moser from the Australian Institute of Play, to visit their site at Joomunjie Land. Located at Eagleby South State School, Joomunjie Land is described as, “an imaginative play space, here children just play, be creative and hav

Another Playworker and I, were creating a play provocation in the form of a tyre mountain/pyramid in Joomunjie Land. Joomunjie Land is a 'Community Backyard' for local children to play, after school ond during schools holidays. It's purpose is to provide children with a space to engage in creative, constructive, self-directed free play, with local friends. Just be children. During this play session, our plan was to make the tyre mountain about 3 or 4 metres high, tiered to av

If you spend any amount of time with groups of children, it’s easy to start creating labels for the stereotypes you might encounter - the children often know these labels too! There’s the cool guy, maybe a class clown, we’ve all met a chatterbox, the star athlete and the popularly depicted quiet kid or wallflower. * This story isn’t about any of those, it’s about a new subcategory which seems to be more prevalent now… I call them, “The Worrier”. ____________________________

Imagine, being a child and there is place embedded in your local community being created for children to gather, be wild, play, explore, connect, have fun and be free. Imagine that this space was designed and constructed by local children. This is Eagleby’s new monster adventure Play Space. The children called it Joomunjie Land. It is the community backyard helping to secure the health and wellbeing of local children, and it is being led by local children. Joomunjie Land is a