Oscar’s Sketchbook is an amazing historical record of life on the Queensland frontier in the 1890’s. Having found its way to the National Museum, it has been studied by historians, such as Dr Ernie Grant, who have attested to its great significance. The Division of Indigenous Education and Training Futures (DIETF) of the Queensland Department of Education, Training and Employment has also acknowledged this, and decided in early 2012 that it could play an important part in framing the Learning@hand mobile learning forum.
Physical and digital tools for learning
This forum had a key goal of helping educators engage with the leading edge technological tools that students are using today to capture their worlds. Just as Oscar – the young Aboriginal man who created the sketchbook – used what was the high tech of his day (coloured pencils and a notebook) to capture his world, it made sense to display his work to provide a context for what today’s students are doing.
However, as the original sketchbook is a precious artifact, having it travel to Queensland was not a viable option. Instead, DIETF approached the National Museum about partnering to explore other ideas for bringing Oscar’s work ‘home’. As custodians of Oscar’s Sketchbook, the National Museum has done a great job of making images of the book and information that is known about Oscar accessible on their website. However, just showing the images didn’t offer the level of impact that the Learning@hand forum organisers hoped for.
Fortunately, the museum was able to suggest a joint project where exact quality replicas of the sketchbook were printed, containing additional pages with extra information.
At the Learning@hand forum in Cairns at the end of April 2012, three facsimiles of the sketchbook were provided so that the 120 attendees could hold them, turn the pages, and examine them as if they were the original sketchbook. Alongside the replicas there were three iPads and three XO laptops displaying work that current students had created. This juxtaposition created a unique interplay of history, art, learning and technology that bridged the 120 plus years between Oscar and today’s learners.
Noted Queensland historian and Elder Dr Ernie Grant addressed the delegates, explaining not just the significance of Oscar’s Sketchbook for his own work, but also what it means for correcting the historical record in terms of Indigenous history post white settlement. A video of his presentation can be viewed at the temporary event website for the forum. The ‘Oscars Sketchbook’ tab on this website also contains some images of the iPads and XO laptops that were part of this unique exhibit. Dr Grant also presented at a Cairns school where students were using iPads to create videos that tell local stories about their school and communities.
The replicas and images of current students’ work were also featured at the #Intersect event held shortly after Learning@hand at the State Library of Queensland in Brisbane. Suffice to say that the three replicas which DIETF has obtained will continue to let Queenslanders get close to the sketchbook, and there is hope that future projects can be built upon this success of this one.
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