First Stories and Solid Connections: Six months into our second year

August 19, 2026

Over the first six months of 2026 – the second year of our two-year First Stories and Solid Connections project – we have continued working with communities across Western Australia, from Boorloo/Perth and Kinjarling/Albany to the Kimberley and Pilbara.

Centre for Stories is a not-for-profit literary arts organisation in Boorloo that uses storytelling to empower underrepresented voices, foster connection, and drive inclusion through workshops, events, mentoring, and professional services.

First Stories and Solid Connections is a two-year truth-listening and truth-telling project led by Centre for Stories in partnership with First Nations and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) communities across Western Australia.

First Stories is dedicated to increasing the space and methodologies available to First Nations storytellers in ways that support their personal and community objectives. Its sister program, Solid Connections, creates spaces for non-Indigenous people, particularly CaLD people, to deeply listen to First Nations stories, share their own stories, and in turn, build meaningful relationships.

The work is guided by an Aboriginal Advisory Group, which helps ensure the project remains accountable, culturally safe and responsive to community priorities.

Here are some of the people, partnerships and stories that have shaped the first half of our second year.

Wirrin Wangkininy anthology

We began 2026 by continuing to share the stories developed during the project’s first year. In late 2025, we launched Wirrin Wangkininy, a print anthology of nine Noongar men’s stories, developed through a series of oral storytelling workshops in partnership with Indigo Junction in Midland. Most stories were captured orally, transcribed, and then illustrated by Worrora man Chris Wood.

Two of the storytellers, Pete Humphries and John Mogridge, both went on to share their stories with wider audiences at Courtyard Yarning and a Backyard Truth-Telling event.

Courtyard Yarning

In February, we held our first public storytelling event of 2026 in Boorloo. Courtyard Yarning brought together contributors to the ‘Listening’ edition of Centre for Stories’ literary journal, Portside Review, and oral storytellers who had participated in First Stories workshops during 2025.

An audience member reflected: “I listened with my heart wide open, may we do this always.”

Read more from our Portside Review ‘Listening’ authors here.

Teacher and student training in Kinjarling/Albany

In April, First Stories facilitators Ron Bradfield Jnr and Savannah Travia-Dann travelled to Kinjarling to spend time with the boarding students and teachers at Great Southern Grammar School, sharing stories, learning from community and exploring the power of storytelling.

Over two days, we worked alongside students, creating space for them to share and develop stories that are meaningful to them. We were fortunate to learn alongside local community members including Larry Blight, who grounded our time together through his knowledge of Menang stories of Kinjarling, as well as local bush foods and medicines.

Through these sessions, students were reminded that everyone has a story to tell, and that every story is important. It was an opportunity to reflect on the places, people and experiences that shape who we are, and to see the value in sharing those stories with others.

Alongside our work with students, we also spent time with teachers, reflecting on the power of stories to create connection and inspire change. We yarned about ways teachers can make storytelling more engaging and impactful for their students, and how storytelling can be used to create meaningful learning experiences in the classroom.

It was a wonderful opportunity to share stories, learn from one another and celebrate the many stories that already exist within the Kinjarling community.

Backyard Truth-Telling in Walyalup/Fremantle

For the second time, we partnered with the City of Fremantle to deliver Backyard Truth-Telling workshops and public events, using the First Stories and Solid Connections methodologies.

The program brought together First Nations and non-Indigenous storytellers from the Walyalup community. Participants shared personal stories of difficult pasts and reimagined futures, of colonisation, and of pathways to reconciliation. These events were a reminder that sharing and listening to oral stories always was and always will be a meaningful way of imparting knowledge and deepening a sense of belonging, to place, and to each other.

An audience member from the Backyard Truth-Telling event at Samson House reflected:

“We don’t know a person by how they look. We are enriched and grow by listening to the stories and history they share. When we hear them with heart, we are given a chance to become better as people and community together.”

One of our storytellers submitted her filmed story from the Backyard Truth-Telling event where she speaks about her experiences with racism, into the recent federal Inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Spear Foundation: Elder’s workshops and Djeelya young women

In July, we partnered with the Spear Foundation, an Aboriginal-led organisation inspiring all communities to walk together in reconciliation, to deliver three storytelling workshops with Elders, as well as two sessions with young Aboriginal women participating in the Djeelya Program. Djeelya directly responds to Closing the Gap targets by addressing the over-representation of Aboriginal young women in the justice system and the urgent need for culturally safe interventions.

We are pleased to share that Djeelya participants will share the final stories they crafted in our workshops with the WA Governor, His Excellency the Honourable Chris Dawson APM, in August.

Kimberley and Pilbara

Further north, our team has been working with local Aboriginal organisations, artists, Elders, young people and historians to record stories connected to Country, community and local history.

In Ngurruwaana, we partnered with Juluwarlu Aboriginal Corporation to deliver a series of poetry writing workshops, listening and learning from Yindjibarndi Elders and young rangers on what Country means to them. Participants worked to produce a collaborative group poem about Yindjibarndi Country.

We also partnered with Martumilli Arts Centre in Punmu and Newman, and the Hidden History committee and Nulungu Research Institute in Halls Creek, to deliver a series of oral storytelling workshops and one-on-one oral history interviews.

We dropped by the Halls Creek Senior High School for a session with the Year 7-9 students on oral storytelling.

Together, these programs create spaces for First Nations storytellers to share their truth and stories, their way.

One Halls Creek participant shared the joy of having Centre for Stories help her write her first poem, so excited by this new skill that she planned on “writing a whole book of poems one day”.

What’s next

In the coming months, our team will be delivering a series of Solid Connections workshops in Rubibi/Broome and partnering with Reconciliation WA in Kinjarling/Albany.

We will also offer further Regional Elder’s Memoir Fellowships, supporting Elders to develop and record their life stories. In Boorloo, First Nations facilitators will take part in professional development in creative writing and workshop delivery. We will also partner with SPACED to support a 6-8 week Know Thy Neighbour residency at Centre for Stories for Noongar artist Zali Morgan.

The stories and truths recorded from First Nations and CaLD participants from across the project will soon be available as podcasts and videos in a new First Stories, Solid Connections collection on the Centre for Stories website. We are also producing a print anthology of our storytellers’ yarns and reflections and can’t wait to share the book with you.

For now, explore the First Stories project page.

Upon completion of this project in 2027, a storytelling manual, literature review into truth-listening and truth-seeking, and evaluation findings about First Stories, will be made available as community resources. We hope for the lessons and learnings gathered through the First Stories and Solid Connections project to continue supporting this kind of work led by others in future and healing for our communities.

We are honoured and grateful to continue to listen to, hold space with, and learn alongside storytellers, trainers, partners and advisors of this project.

With love and gratitude,
The First Stories team and Aboriginal Advisory Group

First Stories and Solid Connections have been made possible thanks to funding from Lotterywest.